Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who
Romana's eyes widened, filled with tears as she shook her head slightly in protest. "You can't…" she murmured quietly, and he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Romana…I'm sorry. Dorium's right, I can't keep running from this. If the question…is really what he says it is, it's better for the universe this way" he tried to reason. "But you'd never answer it" she insisted, "I know you wouldn't, you don't…you shouldn't have to die". A tear spilled from her eye and he lifted a hand to wipe it away, before drawing her in for a kiss. The Corsair slowly slid Dorium's hatch shut.
They met with the Teselecta in a side room of the bar on Calisto B. The Doctor handed the robot the letters, addressed to River, Amy, Rory and his past self, and asked Carter to deliver them for him. "Surely you could deliver the messages yourself?" the captain asked, even as the robot took the letters. "It would involve crossing my own time stream. Best not" the Doctor explained. He was alone; Romana hadn't been able to bring herself to go with him, and the others had stayed behind to try and comfort her.
"According to our files, this is the end for you. Your final journey. We'll deliver your messages. You can depend on us" Carter told him sincerely. The Doctor nodded in gratitude. "Thank you" he said quietly, before turning to leave. Just as he opened the door, Carter called out "Doctor, whatever you think of the Teselecta, we are champions of law and order just as you have always been. Is there nothing else we can do?" The Doctor paused, looked at the Teselecta-Vandaleur sadly, and left without another word.
/
Winston was more bewildered by this part of the story, than any other. "Why would you do this?" he demanded, "Of all the things you've told me, this I find hardest to believe. Why would you invite your friends to see your death?" He didn't miss how Romana winced at those last two words, or how the Doctor rubbed his thumb on the back of her hand reassuringly. "I had to die. I didn't have to die alone" explained the Doctor.
"What about them?" asked Winston, waving in the direction of the other Time Lords. "We were there" answered Flavia, remembering how they'd watched from the invisible TARDIS as the Doctor greeted Amy and Rory, and River shot his Stetson off his head with a teasing "Hello, sweetie!"
"The invitees hadn't met us at that point" the Corsair continued, "we had to stay in the shadows to preserve the timeline".
"Amy and Rory. The last Centurion and the girl who waited. However dark it got, I'd turn around, and there they'd be" the Doctor smiled, seemingly reminiscing. "If it's time to go, remember what you're leaving. Remember the best. My friends have always been the best of me" he told Winston. And you, of course, love he added to Romana, who simply nodded distractedly. She couldn't help but feel like she'd forgotten something… then she noticed the marks.
"And did you tell them this was going to happen?" asked Winston. "No offence, but we'd get through the story a lot quicker if you stopped asking so many questions" the Corsair pointed out, and Winston harrumphed at him. "We don't have much time" the Doctor muttered, as Romana drew his attention to the tally marks on his arm. As if just to annoy the Corsair, Winston asked another question; "this woman you spoke of, did you invite her?"
"Yes, she was there. River Song came twice. Everything was in place. I only had to do one more thing. I only had to die" the Doctor said, resigned. He remembered sitting on the blanket with River and the Ponds, toasting with Napoleon's wine and wishing the others could be there as well. He'd looked over to where he knew the TARDIS was parked, invisible, before Canton pulled up in his pick-up. He'd waved to the man, now much older, and then River had seen the astronaut. That was when he knew it was time to go.
/
The Doctor warned them all not to interfere, no matter what, and walked down to the water's edge. The astronaut raised its visor, revealing the frightened face of a younger River Song. "Well, then. Here we are at last" he greeted sadly. "I'm trying to stop it" she gasped out, obviously straining, "the suit's trying to control me".
"You're not supposed to stop it. This has to happen"
"Run"
"I did run. Running brought me here"
"I…I can't fight it, it's too strong…"
"I know, it's okay. This is where I die. This is a fixed point. This must happen. This always happens. Don't worry. You won't even remember this. Look over there" he prompted, glancing over to the others, and she peered to the side with a bit of difficulty. "That's me" she realised, "How can I be there?"
"That's you from the future, serving time for a murder you probably can't remember. My murder" the Doctor explained, and she stared at him in shock, feeling betrayed. "Why would you do that? Make me watch?"
"So that you know this is inevitable. And you are forgiven, by all of us. Always and completely forgiven"
"I can't…I don't want to do this, please, just run!"
"I can't"
"Time can be rewritten"
"Don't you dare. Goodbye, River". He winked, and closed his eyes, waiting. Rather than a single blast, five shorter blasts exploded in quick succession just in front of him, making him flinch. When he realised that something hadn't happened correctly, he cracked an eye open. "Hello, sweetie!" River smiled brightly, looking very pleased with herself. "What have you done?" the Doctor asked in alarm. She pretended to think about it. "Well, I think I just drained my weapon systems".
"But this is fixed! This is a fixed point in time!"
"Fixed points can be rewritten"
"No, they can't. Of course they can't. Who told you that…?" he asked just as the world exploded into white.
/
The Doctor stopped describing the events, feeling a cold shiver run up his spine, a sensation that was echoed with all his friend's but one. "Well, what happened?" Winston demanded, oblivious to the Time Lords uneasiness. "Nothing" he answered, a bit distractedly, looking around. The Silence were there somewhere, he was sure of it, if only he could remember. "Nothing?" Winston repeated in confusion.
"Nothing happened. And then it kept happening. Or, if you'd prefer, everything happened at once, and it won't ever stop. Time is dying. It's going to be five oh two in the afternoon for all eternity. A needle stuck on a record" explained the Doctor.
"A record? Good Lord, man, have you never heard of downloads?"
"If you only knew the irony of that statement" the Corsair told him, before looking down at the pistol in his hand, not remembering when he'd pulled it out. Winston sniffed. "Gun-smoke. That's gun-smoke…Oh, I appear to have fired this" he realised, looking down at his own revolver. The Doctor found himself holding a spear, and pulled Romana behind him. "We seem to be defending ourselves" he commented.
"I don't understand"
"The creatures that lead the Silence. Remarkable beings. They're memory-proof"
"But what does that mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds" said Romana, "You can't remember them. The moment you look away, you forget they're even there" she explained. The Doctor glanced at his arm, seeing four tally marks now. "Don't panic. In small numbers, they're not too difficult" he tried to reassure Winston, only for Romana to show him his other arm, which was covered in tally marks. "Um, all of you…" Flavia said shakily, pointing up at the ceiling. The Silence were hanging there in a big cluster.
A clattering noise made the Doctor and the Corsair look down…as a grenade rolled into the room. "Hit the deck!" yelled the Corsair, grabbing Flavia and Winston – who were nearest to him – and yanking them down. The Doctor pulled Romana down and sheltered her with his body as the grenade exploded. It took out a wall, and soldiers poured in through the smoke, aiming guns up at the Silence on the roof. "Go! Go! Go! Keep the Silence in sight at all times, keep your eye drives active" ordered one of the soldiers.
"Who the devil are you?" asked Winston, as he sat up, "identify yourselves!" A familiar figure walked forwards, hips swaying. "Pond, Amelia Pond" she introduced. The Doctor chuckled breathlessly, both in relief and at the James Bond reference; the Corsair smiled as well and then pushed Winston's revolver down. "Don't even think about it, she's a friend" he warned. Amy came into the light…and they discovered she was wearing an eye-patch. "No. No, Amy. Amy, why are you wearing that?" asked the Doctor. Amy proceeded to raise a gun and shoot him.
"Doctor!" Romana cried in alarm, her hands moving swiftly to feel his pulse. It throbbed under her fingers and she relaxed minutely, before looking up at Amy and demanding "Why did you-?" Amy held up a hand to stop her talking. "Romana, we don't have time. I'll explain on the way" she promised, before turning on her heel and walking out, beckoning over her shoulder for them to follow. "On the way to where?" Flavia called after her. "Cairo!"
/
Romana sat with the Doctor's head in her lap, stroking his hair as the train trundled along. Opposite her sat Flavia, in a wicker armchair, absently flicking through a book she'd found. The History of the Universe… it was so wrong, it would be laughable if it weren't a reminder of how dire the situation was. On Flavia's left, the Corsair was playing with Melody, who was now a year old and starting to almost say words. "Can you say 'Cor-ry?" he asked encouragingly. Melody blinked at him with wide brown eyes. "Borblee" she said.
Flavia snickered in spite of herself, before looking up at Romana. "Romana, are you alright?" she asked in concern; the other Time Lady had been so quiet since Amy had come to 'retrieve' them, as she'd put it. "Do I really have to answer that?" sighed Romana, and Flavia bit her lip. "Yes, I suppose that was a rather daft question…I'm sorry".
"…time is wrong" Romana said a few minutes later. "I can feel that it's wrong, but part of me is glad that this happened. Glad that he's still alive. I'd rather one man was alive than the entire universe…what does that say about me?" she wondered. "That you're in love" replied the Corsair. The newsman on the television, which had been playing quietly in the corner, said "The Government has again apologised for extensive radio interference caused by solar flare and sun spot activity". As he spoke, the Doctor began to stir.
He blinked awake and looked up at the blurry face of Romana. "Ro?" he asked, before his eyes slid over to the doorway where Amy was leaning. "Amy?"
The redhead apologised, "Those stun guns aren't fun. I'm sorry. I wanted to avoid a long conversation" she explained, "You need to get up, though. We'll be in Cairo shortly". The Doctor sat up slowly, saying "Amy Pond. Amelia Pond from Leadworth, please, listen to me. I know it seems impossible, but you know us. In another version of reality you and I were best friends. We travelled together, we had adventures" he explained, before struggling to his feet. "Doctor, she"- Romana tried to tell him, but the Doctor was too distracted to listen.
He completely missed the walls plastered with drawings of aliens they'd encountered. "Amelia Pond, you grew up with a time rift in the wall of your bedroom. You can see what others can't. You can remember things that never happened" he told her desperately, lurching over to a table like a drunken man and picking up a model of the TARDIS. "And if you try, if you really, really try, you'll be able to…" he trailed off, finally realising what he was holding. "Oh". He looked over at the pictures. "Oh". Then he looked at Romana.
"I did try to warn you, dear" she told him. "Oh".
"You look rubbish" said Amy. The Doctor tossed her the model TARDIS and looked at Romana. "You look wonderful" he told her, and she smiled, both at the compliment and at how ridiculous he was being, flirting at a time like this. "So do you" she replied. "We'll soon fix that" Amy grinned, pulling out a tweed jacket, shirt and bowtie on a hanger. "Oh…Geronimo" the Doctor grinned, taking the suit.
/
"Okay, you can turn round now. How do I look?" he asked Romana, now shaved and dressed in his proper clothes. "Much better" she smiled approvingly. Amy told him he looked cool – then admitted she was lying. "Cool office though. Why do you have an office?! Are you a special agent boss lady or something? Not sure about the eye patch, though" he rambled. From behind her desk, Amy explained "It's not an eye patch. Time's gone wrong. Some of us noticed. There's a whole team of us working on it, you'll see" she explained.
"And you've got an office on a train. That is so cool. Can I have an office? Never had an office before. Or a train. Or a train slash office" the Doctor rambled some more, because rambling meant Romana smiled, and he liked her to be smiling. Amy chuckled, and stood up from her chair. "God, I've missed you!" she laughed, hugging the Doctor tightly. "Okay. Hugging and missing now. Where's the Roman?" he asked, pulling away.
"You mean Rory"
"Mm"
"My husband Rory, yeah? Melody's father" said Amy. She tickled her daughter's belly; Melody waved her little arms. "Babwa!" she cried with a smile. Amy picked up a drawing from her desk. "That's him, isn't it?" she asked, showing them a very… idealised drawing of Rory that was almost unrecognisable. "I've no idea. I can't find him, but I love him very much, don't I?" she asked. The Corsair struggled not to laugh. "Apparently" the Doctor said blankly.
"I have to keep doing this, writing and drawing things. It's just it's so hard to keep remembering" she admitted. "Well, it's not your fault" the Doctor assured her, "Time's gone wrong. Do you remember why?" he asked.
"The lakeside"
"Lake Silencio, Utah. I died"
"But then you didn't. See, I remember it twice, different ways"
"Two different versions of the same event, both happening in the same moment. Time split wide open. Now look at it. All of history happening at once" said the Doctor, pointing at the window. "But does it matter? I mean, can't we just stay like this?" Amy wondered. The Corsair shook his head and explained, "It's not like that, Scottie. See time isn't just frozen, it's disintegrating. It will spread and spread and all of reality will simply fall apart".
Just then, Rory appeared in the doorway, dressed in a soldier's uniform with a beret and wearing his own eye-patch. "Ma'am? We're about to arrive. Eye drives need to be activated as soon as we disembark" he informed Amy, very formally. "Good point. Thank you, Captain Williams" she replied, just as formally. The Time Lords glanced at one another. "Hello" said Flavia, wondering if Rory would recognise her, but he didn't seem to. "Sirs, madams" he nodded at them, "pleased to meet you".
"Captain Williams, best of the best. Couldn't live without him" Amy nodded approvingly. As Rory left, the Doctor picked up Amy's sketch of him and chuckled, saying "No". Amy took the drawing back, asking him what was wrong, and he turned to face her. "Amy. You'll find your Rory, you always do, but you really have to look" he told her. "I am looking" she insisted stubbornly. "Oh, my Amelia Pond" the Doctor smiled fondly, cupping her face, "You don't always look hard enough".
"Why are you older?" she asked out of the blue. "If time isn't really passing, then how can you be ageing?" The Doctor sighed. "Time is still passing for me. Every explosion has an epicentre. I'm it. I'm what's wrong" he explained, walking away from them all. "What's wrong with you?" asked Amy. The Doctor sighed and walked over to Romana, putting an arm around her shoulders. "I'm still alive" he told Amy with a sad smile. Romana leaned into him, and he nuzzled her temple.
Amy smiled briefly, watching them, before she walked over to Melody's high chair and began unstrapping her daughter from it. "Don't you have a babysitter?" Flavia asked with a puzzled frown, as Amy held Melody on her hip. The ginger smirked and replied "Leading a top secret investigation and looking after a baby? No problem. Come on, you guys will like this" she said confidently, going to leave. The Doctor made to follow, but then stopped. "Oh! Almost forgot" – he pulled Romana against him in a passionate kiss, before pulling away abruptly, leaving her breathless.
"Right then!" he clapped his hands together, "let's go".