"They're not in the sick bay," Amy said, walking back into the TARDIS console room.

"Then where are they?" asked Ben, an anxious look on his face. "He said they would meet us here! You don't think something happened to them?"

"What could have happened?" asked Amy, far more confidently than she felt. "They weren't that far away."

"I'm going to find them," Ben declared.

Before Amy could decide whether she should argue or agree with him, the door swung open and the Doctor burst in, carrying Polly. Rory was right behind them.

"Polly!" Ben cried, rushing to meet them. "What happened? Are you alright?"

"She's fine, she's fine," the Doctor said, hurrying past him and placing Polly in the jump seat before flying to the control panel. "Sorry, things are exploding, we need to take off."

"But what—"

"I'm alright, Ben," Polly assured him.

"You don't look it," Amy cut in, which was true enough. Polly was pale and sweating and there was blood on her clothes, which Ben had plainly noticed and was starting to freak out about.

"Well, if you would let me finish," Polly said a little shortly. "I was going to say that, given the circumstances, I'm alright, but I did just have the baby."

There was a moment of silence. "What?" asked Ben at last.

"I had the baby," Polly said, smiling slightly at the look on Ben's face.

"You had…But…" was the most he could manage.

"Rory helped," she said, turning to Amy. "He was brilliant."

"Rory?" Amy turned to look at Rory, who hadn't moved since they came inside. He cut quite an interesting image—standing barefoot by the door, soggy jeans dripping intermittently onto the glass floor, hands sticky with blood up to the elbows and clutching a tiny baby wrapped up in a lab coat to his bare chest. He stared down at the baby as if he was in another world entirely, and it wasn't until Amy got closer that she saw a tear running down his cheek. "Rory?" she asked. He didn't look up.

Ben turned to look at the same time as Amy, his eyes going wide with wonder at the sight of his son. He moved forward to take the baby, but Rory gripped him closer, taking a step back. He still didn't look up.

The Doctor appeared out of nowhere, putting a hand on Ben's shoulder. "It's alright, Ben." He moved cautiously over to Rory and placed a hand on his arm. "It's alright, Rory," he said quietly. "You can let Ben have the baby."

Rory shook his head. "You told me to keep him safe."

"And you did," the Doctor assured him. "You did. We're here now, and he's safe."

"He's safe?" Rory asked, finally looking up.

"He's safe," the Doctor repeated. "You can let him go now."

The tension eased in Rory's arms, and he held out the little bundle. Ben stepped forward cautiously and took Jamie in his arms. He hesitated a moment, then said to Rory, "Thanks for looking after him, mate." Rory nodded numbly, and Ben moved back over to join Polly.

Amy stepped forward and took Rory's shoulders. The lone tear she saw earlier had become several, and she reached up to hold his face with one hand. "Hey, hey, it's alright," she said gently.

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Amy," he mumbled.

"Sorry?" she said. "What for?"

He turned away from her, sinking down to sit on the floor. "Because I couldn't…I couldn't—I'm so sorry—I couldn't keep her safe!"

The Doctor's eyes went wide as Rory said this. He hurried over to Ben and Polly, ignoring their questioning looks, and began ushering them towards the sick bay.

"Who?" asked Amy, her voice shaking slightly as she knelt in front of him. "Rory, who are you talking about?"

"Our baby! I tried to keep her safe—Amy, I tried so hard! But they took her, and I—" His breath caught as he choked on a sob. "I'm so sorry…"

"Rory," Amy said, tears welling in the corners of her own eyes. "Rory, listen to me. It wasn't your fault."

"But I'm her father!" he yelled, looking up at her again. His eyes were red from crying, wide and wild and scared. "I was supposed to protect her!" He drew in a ragged breath. "I'm her father…" he whispered again, desperately, explaining and condemning himself with those three words.

"And I'm her mother," Amy said, her voice wavering. "That means if anybody in the world has the right to accuse you of not protecting her, then it's me. But I don't, Rory. I don't blame you." She pulled him forward and kissed him on the cheek, tasting the salt of the tears streaking down his face. "I don't."

"I should have kept her safe," he said again, his voice tinged with misery. "Sed abiit, and she can't come back. We'll never get to see our little girl, and I should've…" He pulled away from her, leaning his head forlornly against his knees as he wept.

Amy swallowed hard. The words Rory was saying were the same ones she would use to accuse herself, the thoughts that taunted and cast blame when she was at her lowest. She lifted a hand and placed it on his shoulder. It was cold and shaking. "I know she's gone, Rory. But we know she's alright," she said softly. "She's River." It was the same thing she told herself. Sometimes it worked.

Rory looked up at her sadly, blinking tears out of his eyes. "But she never got to be ours." He drew in a deep, shaky breath. "I miss her."

Amy nodded. "I miss her too, Rory." The tears that had been threatening to spill from her eyes finally came. "I miss her too."

Rory reached out a hand and gently wiped the tears from her cheek, smearing blood across her face, but she didn't care. Because in his eyes he was Rory again. Not all the way—not quite yet—but he was in there. Her Rory was coming back.

"I'm sorry, Amy," he said again.

She put up one hand to his face, matching his gesture. "Don't be," she whispered.

His hand slid from her cheek and he listed to the side. She put out her arms to steady him, guiding his head to her lap as his eyelids began to flutter. "I'm sorry," he whispered before passing out completely.

A tear dripped from Amy's eye to splash on the side of his face. She leaned down and kissed him. "I'm so sorry, Rory," she whispered, stroking his hair gently.

"Are you okay?" came the Doctor's voice, softly, from somewhere above her.

She turned to see him standing by the console, his eyes sad and understanding. "Yeah," she said, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes. "Thanks for…you know." She nodded in the direction of sick bay, and Ben and Polly.

"Anytime," he said. "It didn't really seem like a good 'group moment'." He came and knelt next to her. "I'm sorry it had to happen like that," he said, nodding down at Rory. "There were too many things happening all at once to trigger his memory—seeing you, and delivering the baby and then I had to go and tell him to keep him safe…" He sighed. "I should have been more careful."

Amy looked up at him, managing a very small, but genuine smile. "I seem to be saying this a lot today, but it wasn't your fault."

He gave a short, rueful laugh. "That's nice to hear for a change."

"Will he be alright now?" she asked, laying a hand softly on Rory's head.

The Doctor nodded. "He'll probably feel a bit ill for a while, but when he wakes up, he'll be the Rory Pond we know and love."

"If he was awake he'd tell you it was 'Williams'," she said, unable to stop a small smile.

"I suppose he would," the Doctor agreed. "But I doubt I would listen." He smiled too. "Let's get him to the sick bay."


Sed abiit -But she's gone


Rory came awake with a sudden gasp, just a quick flash of panic before he realized he could breathe. No, it was alright, he wasn't under water anymore. He was…was he in the TARDIS?

"Rory?" a voice asked cautiously. He felt a soft hand cover his own.

He turned towards the voice and there was Amy. Tired circles under her eyes suggested that she hadn't slept in far too long. She was looking at him with worried, hopeful eyes, stroking his hand with her fingers.

"Amy," he rasped. He squeezed her hand. "Oh, Amy—" was as far as he got before she was on top of him. His breath rushed out of him with a painful whoosh as she lifted him up and flung her arms around him. He returned the embrace, ignoring the pain and reveling in the closeness of her as she began planting kisses across his face.

"Careful there, Pond," said the Doctor, smiling from the doorway. Startled, Amy let go and Rory fell back onto the pillows with a grunt. "We've just gotten him all fixed up—can't have you going and breaking him again." His smile widened as he sauntered into the room. "How are you feeling, Rory?"

"Um, okay," Rory said with a small cough. "Been better. The, uh…the kissing was quite nice, though," he said, looking up at Amy. She smiled and leaned over him, kissing him soundly on the lips.

"Oh, get a room, you two," the Doctor said, rolling his eyes.

Amy sat back up, giving him her best evil eye. "We had one 'til you came wandering in."

The Doctor dismissed this comment with a wave. He walked over to the bed, eyeing the monitor above Rory's head. "Looks like you're doing alright. How's the memory?"

"Well," Rory said, wincing somewhat as Amy helped him sit up. "My head feels like it's full of rocks and cobwebs at the moment, but I think it's alright." He looked the Doctor over thoughtfully. "Your name's Steve, right?" The Doctor's eyebrows shot up in alarm and Rory smiled. "Just kidding, Doctor. I'm fine."

"Don't…don't do that," the Doctor said, pointing an accusing finger at him. Amusement twinkled in his eyes.

"Sorry," Rory said, still smiling. Amy laughed.

"But seriously though," Amy said, sitting down next to him on the bed. She lifted a hand to stroke his hair. "You are…I mean, you do remember?" She bit her lip, a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"I do," he said, pained at the worry in her voice. He reached up a hand to cup the side of her face and pull her close, wanting nothing more than to kiss her doubts away. When they pulled apart, he looked up into her eyes sincerely. "I do remember, Amy. It's all here: you, and me, and us, and the Doctor, and all those weird bits that probably technically never happened…" That earned a smile from her, and he smiled back. "I'm back," he finished. "I'm sorry I scared you."

"Well, it was hardly your fault…I'm sorry it took so long for us to find you," she said, looking down.

"It's alright," he assured her, taking her hand. "I knew you would come." He kissed her cheek and she smiled.

"And may I say, Mr. Pond," said the Doctor, clapping him on the shoulder. "A very hearty well-done, sir. I don't know if you remember much of what happened on the way back to the TARDIS—well, why would you? You were, quite frankly, higher than the moon, and the inside of your head was a proper mess—and yet even so, a crisis arose and you managed to pull all that medical knowledge out of that chaos somehow and deliver a baby. I'm not easily impressed, you know, but that did it for me."

Rory blinked up at him. "I delivered a baby?" He looked thoughtful. "I've got…I've got flashes of that in here," he said, gesturing at his head. "But I thought that was just a really strange dream."

"It was all real," the Doctor assured him. "In fact, they should be…ah! There they are!" He gestured at the door, and Rory and Amy turned to see Ben and Polly coming in, little Jamie in Ben's arms.

"Good to see you awake, mate!" said Ben. "How are you?"

"Alright," said Rory, gawking at the baby in Ben's arms. "Is that…?"

"It is," said Polly, beaming at him. "All fine, thanks to you. Would you like to see him? I don't think you were properly introduced." Carefully, she took the baby from Ben and laid him gently in Rory's arms.

Rory smiled at the little boy fidgeting in the blanket. "Hello," he said softly. The baby blinked up at Rory, making a squeaking sort of sound.

"We'd like you to meet James Rory Jackson," said Polly with a smile.

"I—I'm sorry, what?" Rory stammered, looking up.

"Seemed only right," Ben said with a smile, putting an arm around Polly. "Seeing as you did help and all."

"But I—" Rory began.

"See? I told you it was impressive," the Doctor said.

"You don't mind, do you?" asked Polly.

"Mind? No, of course not!" Rory said, a smile creeping onto his face. He looked back down at the baby. "Of course not."

Amy reached over to stroke Jamie's hair. It was soft and thick, with a reddish tint where the light hit it. "I can already tell he's going to be a ginger," she said, looking up at Ben with a wink. "Good on you, Jamie! You wear that proudly."

Rory offered the baby back to Polly and she took him, kissing his forehead as he snuggled into her arms. "Thanks again, mate," Ben said, clapping him on the shoulder. Rory smiled.

"Well then," the Doctor said, clapping his hands together. "Now that everyone is back and safe and healthy, does anyone want to see how my brilliant plan worked out?"

"You had a brilliant plan?" asked Rory.

"I always have a brilliant plan," the Doctor said. "This one in particular was quite good though."

"Haven't we missed it?" asked Amy. "Rory's been asleep for hours, and I'm pretty sure everything has finished exploding."

"Well yes, the exploding is over. Some of it, anyway. But no, we haven't missed anything. The rest of my cunning plan involves getting all those humans back and stopping the invasion of the Earth. They can't have invaded the Earth in the past ten hours—it's at least a day to fly there. Besides, they're all still swarming around trying to figure out why their base blew up. There was no harm in waiting a bit."

Polly smiled at the Doctor knowingly. "You wanted an audience, didn't you? You wanted to wait until we could all see what happened."

"What? No! I—Well, alright, maybe a bit," the Doctor admitted. "But if it had been time-sensitive, I would have gone ahead and done it," he said defensively.

" 'Course you would," Amy said, patting him on the shoulder. "Come on then, let's see it."

The Doctor grinned and bounded out the door. Ben and Polly laughed and followed. Amy helped Rory to his feet and he swayed, gripping her shoulder tightly. "I'm fine," he assured her. "Just a bit light-headed." He stopped, considering what, if any damage the next statement might do to his pride. "Can we take this slowly?" he asked sheepishly.

"As slow as you like," Amy said, holding him tightly. "In fact," she went on, a mischievous gleam springing to her eye. "We don't have to go anywhere at all."

"We don't?"

She shook her head slowly, glancing significantly at the bed he had just vacated. "We could just…stay here."

"We could—oh! Yes, we could stay here. Actually," he said, leaning in to kiss her neck. "I probably shouldn't be walking anywhere just yet."

"Well then," she said, kissing him quickly. "Best not to rush it." She kissed him again. "We should probably get you back to bed."

"Most definitely," he said, threading his fingers up into her hair and kissing her soundly. He closed his eyes, savouring the feel of her heart beating against his, breathing in the scent of her. She ran her hands up his back and he shivered and kissed her again.

"Oi!" They broke apart with a start to see the Doctor glaring from the doorway. "Big, important things happening! Come on! You can have a snog later!" They made their way to the door, grinning apologetically and he rolled his eyes. "Honestly. Leave you two alone for two minutes…"