~oOo~
Rory's eyes kept flicking from his wife to the front doors of the TARDIS. With every passing moment he knew her anger and frustration were growing by leaps and bounds. She was worried that the Doctor wouldn't be back in time to fix things, worried that after all they had been through, the Doctor would never have been in their lives.
Would it be that bad, though? If things changed? Rory thought back to all the ridicule that Amy endured for her tales of the Raggedy Doctor. Of how many times she was secretly heartbroken because he never came back for her. Then he thought about holding his daughter on Demon's Run. Thought about how his heart had swelled that day with love and all his plans for their future. And how only a few hours later those dreams were lost.
It wasn't the Doctor's fault that she had been raised by monsters and regenerated before she was ten years old; of course it wasn't. But Rory couldn't help but wonder at what life would have been like if after the birth of their daughter they had been able to raise her.
Life with the Doctor was mad and brilliant, scary and exhilarating. Rory valued the experiences they'd had, but he questioned if they were worth what had happened to River. He'd never let himself think about it before. Mostly because he didn't think that changing those events would be possible. Now, however, events in the Doctor's past had started to re-form and it seemed as if the Doctor was going to let them, no matter what he told Amy.
There was no doubt in Rory's mind that if the Doctor had a way to change the past in order to be with Rose that he would. The Doctor was a man in love, deeply in love. It was something that Rory understood. Thinking back on his 2,000 years guarding the Pandorica, he knew what it meant to sacrifice in the name of love.
The doors to the TARDIS slammed open, and the Doctor swaggered inside. He was grinning from ear to ear. Jumping to her feet, Amy ran over and grabbed his arm.
"So it's sorted, yeah? No damage done to the timelines?" she asked, desperation in her voice.
"What?" The Doctor blinked as if he had only just noticed her. Then he shook his head. "No, not sorted yet. Just a few things that I need to take care of. Dangerous things." The Doctor ran to the console and began flicking buttons and turning dials.
"Alright," Rory said, standing up and joining the other two. "What can we do to help?"
"Nothing," the Time Lord replied, not looking up at his companions. "This is something delicate. Something I need to be alone for. I can't have you two mucking about, risking further damage."
"No," Amy said, shaking her head. "We'll come with you. Stay in the TARDIS."
"No," the Doctor replied. "Not this time. I'll take you somewhere. You just can't be there. I need to do this alone."
Rory gently laid a hand on his wife's arm. "We understand, Doctor. Are you dropping us at home?"
Looking up, the Doctor met Rory's eyes. There was something there. An apology and an unrestrained delight, as if Christmas and your birthday were all coming at once. Rory knew that the Doctor wasn't trying to stop this, he was welcoming it.
"Do what you have to do, Doctor. Just… Can you take us to see River? It's been too long since we've seen her and who knows when we'll get to see her again."
The Time Lord's hands stilled on the controls. "Roricus Pondicus, thank you for understanding. Next stop, Luna University."
"Wait, what's going on," Amy demanded. "I'm missing something, aren't I?" Her eyes darted between her husband and her best friend. Neither said anything.
Then the penny dropped. "It's already too late, isn't it? Isn't it?" She clawed at the Doctor's hands, trying to rip them from the controls. She whipped around and faced her husband. "We can't let him do this."
Rory shook his head sadly. "There isn't anything we can do."
Amy screamed and turned away from Rory. "There's always something we can do. There has to be something that you can do. Please Doctor, this is going to rewrite my entire life. There could be no you…No Rory. You have to stop this."
"Amy, I can't." The Doctor grabbed her by the wrists and pulled her into a tight hug. "And even if I could, I wouldn't."
"You promised," she cried, pounding at his back.
"No, I didn't, Amy, and even if I did I would have lied," the Doctor replied, squeezing her tighter. "From the moment we landed here it was already too late. The TARDIS was manipulating the timelines. I'm not sure how she did it, but she arranged it so that Rose stays in this Universe. So that Rose stays here on the TARDIS with me."
"Why?" She pushed out of the Doctor's hug and let Rory wrap an arm around her waist. After several calming breaths, she spoke again. "Why would your ship that called the rest of us strays when she was Idris, arrange things so that one human girl could stay here?"
"Because she needs Rose. Because I need Rose." He looked away from his companions and looked at the time rotor. "I met Rose at my lowest point, right after the Time War. I was a broken soldier, an old man then, and Rose made me better. She challenged me and made me laugh. Being around Rose made me want to live, truly live again. She was so fantastic."
He sighed and straightened his bow tie. "Once Rose, our friend Jack and I were fighting the Daleks. There was no hope of our survival. No matter what I did, everyone would die. Every single Dalek and every single resident on Earth."
He swallowed and looked back at the couple. "I sent Rose away in the TARDIS. Sent her home and told her to have a fantastic life without me. I needed her to be safe, to live on. But Rose didn't want to let me die alone. No, she ripped open the heart of the TARDIS and swallowed Time. She became one with my ship, came back to me and destroyed the Daleks with the wave of her hand."
Amy gasped. "But wouldn't that, I don't know, kill her?"
"Oh, it was going to, she was going to burn with that in her head. So I took it out of her and it killed me instead. That's when I regenerated into that hyperactive chipmunk you met earlier today."
"After that, Rose and the TARDIS shared a special bond. One I was too scared to contemplate. I was scared that something had happened to Rose that I wouldn't be able to stop. So I kept us running to try and forget that one day she would leave."
He looked down at his now wringing hands. "And when I did lose her, I wanted to die. Die and never regenerate. Rose made me better. Made me want to be better. I need her. It's never been the same without her."
Closing his eyes, he felt his memories start to diverge and new ones form. There were suddenly glimpses of a stronger connection between his ship and Rose. His eyes widened. The TARDIS hadn't just changed the timeline, she had strengthened the bond between them. What else had his ship done?
There wasn't much time left in this timeline. He needed to be alone when it happened. As much as he wanted these changes to happen, he couldn't watch Amy and Rory fade from existence. He quickly finished setting the coordinates and landed his magnificent ship with only the slightest of bumps.
"Doctor, are you sure there's nothing left for you to do?" Amy asked one last time.
Sadly he shook his head. "Amelia Pond, you are my best friend. But Rose is," he took a deep breath and looked between the husband and wife. "Rose Tyler is my Rory."
By now Amy was crying but something on her face shifted. Finally, she understood. "Time for you to go," she said, throwing her arms around his neck. "Goodbye, Raggedy Man." Quickly, she let go and ran out the doors.
"Good luck, Doctor," Rory said, giving the other man a quick hug before turning to leave.
"You too, Mr. Williams," the Doctor said behind him, but Rory didn't bother to turn around.
Once outside the TARDIS, Rory wrapped his arms around his wife. His cheek rested against hers as he stared out the window. The view of the Earth from the moon was always spectacular. "It'll be alright," he whispered as the ship dematerialized behind him. "Don't worry."
"What if this changes things between us," Amy said tearfully.
He shook his head. "I knew you before you met the Doctor, and I didn't love you because of him. I love you for you. I'll still love you." Amy didn't reply; instead she just wrapped herself tighter around him.
After several minutes they hear the click clack of heels rushing across the marble floor. "Well, hello," River's voice came from across the foyer. "I thought I heard the TARDIS. But where's the Doctor?"
"Um, he's not here," Amy replied, wiping the tears from his face. "He had an important thing that he needed to do alone."
"And he thought we'd like a visit with our daughter," Rory finished.
Something in River's face softened. "Well, it's always nice to have a visit with Mum and Dad. Come on, let's grab a drink. They have a nice pub just off campus."
~oOo~
Several drinks later, River ran a finger around the rim of her martini glass. "Alright, what's really going on here? Something feels off here, and the two of you look like you're in mourning. Why are you really here?"
Rory took in a deep breath and looked to Amy, who nodded. "We met someone today. Someone from the Doctor's past."
"Someone really important to him," Amy added.
Her interest now piqued, River leaned forward. "Really, who?" As an archeologist, she had done her homework on the Time Lord. Following his stories across time and space, she knew the names and stories of almost all of his companions. "There are lots of companions I've always wanted to meet. Jack Harkness being on the top of that list," she purred as she said the name of the former Time Agent.
"No, it wasn't Jack," Rory said hesitantly.
"Oh, Sarah Jane then." River clapped her hands together. "Or maybe Jamie, what about Barbara and Ian. It would be brilliant to meet some of the people the Doctor traveled with in his early regenerations."
"This was someone who traveled with him later." Amy squeezed her husband's hand. "The Doctor said that she travelled with him after the war."
River's face fell. "Was she blonde?" Her parents nodded. Closing her eyes, River asked her next question very slowly. "You met Rose Tyler, didn't you?"
"Yeah, we did." Amy chuckled. "Your father was practically flirting with her."
"I was not," Rory protested. "She seemed upset, and I was just trying to help."
"She was pretty and nice; you were a little bit smitten," Amy teased, a genuine smile forming on her face. "Did the Doctor ever talk to you about her?" she asked, looking at her daughter.
"No, he never talks about Rose. I don't even know what happened to her, other than being listed amongst the dead at the Battle of Canary Wharf. And I know there is more to that story." River's fingers flexed, curling them into fists before forcing herself to lay them flat on the table. "What was she like?" Her voice was low and controlled.
"Rose? She seemed nice enough," Amy replied thoughtfully. "Laughed a lot while she was at the carnival with our Doctor. He fawned all over her, too. I've never seen him like that, so light and happy. Then when the other Doctor showed up and we all ended up in the TARDIS, the two Doctors and Rose disappeared for a long time."
"When they came back," Rory said, continuing the story. "The Doctor, the other Doctor in the brown suit, Rose and Mickey all went back to the other TARDIS to erase memories of today's events."
Clenching her jaw, River let out a long slow breath. "How was he afterward? Why did he drop you off here?"
Amy and Rory shared a long look. Rory shook his head and mouthed the word no. In typical fashion, Amy rolled her eyes and ignored him. "The Doctor was a little sad but mostly happy, and he brought us here to say goodbye because something happened to the timeline. Something that the Doctor can't and won't fix. Time is being rewritten, and everything could change. I'm sorry."
"He can't do this! He can't just erase everything. Not for her." River's hands trembled and she tried to punch in coordinates on her Vortex Manipulator. "I'll stop him. I'll find a way to stop this."
Firmly, Rory grabbed her wrist. "No, you're not going anywhere. This is for the best."
"But the Doctor," River's voice trembled. "He's my whole world. I can't lose him. I don't know who I'd be without him."
Deftly, Rory slipped the Manipulator off her wrist and handed it to Amy. "Don't you think that you deserve to find out?"
"I can't…" River closed her eyes, and Amy moved over to hug her. Soon Rory had his arms wrapped around both of his girls. New memories began to form in the deep recesses of River's mind, happy childhood memories. Love, laughter, Christmas trees, two parents, a baby brother, growing up in the same sleepy little village that her parents had. There was a boy there too, her best friend, a little bit older, ginger, gangly, boisterous laugh, someone who really understood her.
River fought against the changes. Pushing them away, not willing to give up her entire life. But there wasn't anything she could do to stop them. A small part of her sighed in relief as the new memories, the new life swirled around her, and in the blink of an eye, River Song was no more.