Rory paced back and forth in his room. It was tiny, tinier than his apartment, he could make it door to the wall in seconds… Well, at least it had a bed. It was better than a futon, which was an improvement over his usual sleeping arrangements, but it was plainly decorated.

The comforter was a light blue colour and perpetually warm no matter how long he left it. He always could find any clothes he needed by opening any drawer. It was creepy, yet the whole situation was oddly comforting. Although he was also in space with an alien, a kidnapped time travelling child and Tish, creepy was relative.

He didn't know how long he'd been here, how long in space or 'the vortex' as Amelia had called it, no, not Amelia…Amy.

Tish had decided it was confusing too much to Rory for him to be calling someone he thought long dead by her old name and between she and Amelia had decided he should just call her Amy.
Rory was trying to work up the desire to actually do something. He was technically a prisoner, maybe a hostage, and what was worse is no one would notice! He could be gone twenty years, or twenty seconds. Time travelling kidnapping aliens…

Rory gave up and left the room, searching along the hallway for something or someone. He'd learned quickly NOT to follow any instructions on the wall or any signs along the way.
He found one on the wall "LIBRARY: Left" with an arrow painted pointing to the right.

Rory blinked at the wrong pointing arrow and puzzled over it for a moment before turning left and following. Soon he heard laughter and voices.
Rory looked into the room and saw Tish and Amelia sitting at one of the tables near the pool pouring over some book.

"So they built an entire town that way?" Amelia said in amazement.

"Yup." Tish said flipping a page in the book and pointing to another photo. "Venice is quite amazing."

"It is." Rory agreed, sitting next to Amelia on the floor and looking at the photos, "Pictures really don't do it justice."

"You've been?" Amelia asked in surprise looking over at Rory and smiling..

"Yeah. Mum's husband took us." Rory told her, his gaze watching her before turning to the pictures again.

"Your dad?" Amelia asked curiously, remembering the loud and large man that had been in and out of Rory's life.

"Erm, no…Mum and Dad split not long after you disappeared." Rory cleared his throat. "She married Mr. Mitchel remember him?" He asked Amy

"The kindergarten teacher?" Amelia made a face. "Really?" A look of disgust came over her as if the thought of teachers marrying was wrong somehow.

"Yeah. He's my sister's dad. But he took us to Venice, me and mum, when I was about 10." Rory didn't feel the need to mention it was their honeymoon but his mother had been terrified to leave him home, even with Aunt Sharon.

"Think we could go?" Amelia asked Tish eagerly.

"To Venice?" Tish asked looking at Amelia and Rory

"Yes!" Amelia stated as a smile grew on her face.

"I don't know." Tish answered honestly, "I think you might have to go ask the Doctor."

Amelia bounced in her seat, "Can I be excused from my lesson, please?"

Tish closed the book, "Go! Maybe he'll find something interesting to show off in Venice."

Amelia leapt to her feet and took off running to go find the Doctor, where ever he was hiding.

"Think we'll go to Venice?" Rory asked, not sure if he wanted to or not.

"I don't know. It depends if he thinks it's safe." Tish said carefully, "He's a bit cautious after the Shades and keeps thinking of reasons to stay in the Vortex."

"You mean after he kidnapped me." Rory said sarcastically, "He's finding reasons to keep me away from my time so I can't go 'tattle' on him."

"Pretty much." Tish agreed grimly. "And I think that until he's sure you won't go telling the world about him, about time travel, about Amelia and about Aliens you're stuck with us. Sorry." She looked at Rory sadly for a moment.

"Please, like anyone would believe me. I finally have proof my brother didn't do it and I can't tell him. I can't even go to him and admit that I know he didn't do it because he doesn't know about time travel or aliens!" Rory said almost hysterically.

Tish bit her tongue, maybe being funny would come back to bite her, but she was halfway tempted to tell him that his brother worked with Aliens daily; after all Rhys Williams was with Torchwood… "I'm sorry, Rory. Maybe you could try to make up some other way?" Tish said wrapping an arm around her friend.

"Like how? God, there's no one I can tell about this! No one else knows about aliens. I can't even tell Sarah Jane!" Rory said not noticing her arm as his hysteria grew.

"Why are we telling Sarah Jane things? We don't tell Sarah Jane things." the Doctor said sternly as he walked in with Amelia. "Why are you telling Sarah Jane things?" He asked a tone of fear lingering in his voice.

"Sarah Jane's the one who had to explain aliens to him." Tish told the Doctor.

"Ah. Why? Is it because she's the nice one? I know Mickey isn't serious enough about it but you could have blamed head trauma." the Doctor said seriously.

"Sarah Jane won't lie to me." Rory said defiantly, "She never has and never will!"

The Doctor scoffed then paused as the word choice hit him, "Never has? How long have you known her?" He asked curiously.

"Since I was about eight." Rory was on his feet looking the Doctor in the eye. Tish pulled Amelia aside to watch the testosterone battle. "She wouldn't lie to me!" He insisted.

"Why have you known her? How on Earth did you meet her?" the Doctor looked worried and baffled.

"She—" Rory started to say before he was interrupted.

"She wrote the book on Amelia." Tish told the Doctor, "The book I've safely tucked away so no reading it."

"Wrote the book? There's a book on me?" Amelia asked.

"Mhhm, and news articles, magazines, even TV stories." Tish told her.

"Most done by Sarah Jane with my help!" Rory played up his bit, happily having found some button for the Doctor.

The Doctor's eyes widened, his breath hitched, "She'll kill me. She'll kill me till I regenerate and then do it again!" He paced, pulling at his hair then turned to look at Rory, finger pointed at him sternly, "NO telling. You are not telling any of this to Sarah Jane!" the Doctor pouted yet tried to look menacing.

"You know Sarah Jane?" Rory looked upset for a moment, "How."

"He married her." Amelia told him helpfully. "Luke said so after the Angels before he went home."

"I'm only married on the lost moon of Poosh! Which…is no longer lost thanks to Donna. Crap, I am married still." the Doctor scuffed his foot on the floor and glared at Rory again, "NO TELLING. She'll kill me. Anyway, it's a bad idea. She'd get mad at you too."

"Why would she get mad at me?" Rory asked.

"I don't know, I'm still thinking on how to frame you." The Doctor said pointing to Rory.

"Doctor!" Tish said, "Leave Rory alone. You're worse than Yumo…Speaking of, where is he?" she asked looking around hoping to see the blue dog.

"He's definitely not under an overturned laundry basket in the bathroom with a shampoo bottle on top to keep him in." the Doctor said offhandedly, causing Tish to narrow her eyes at him.

"Ugh, you and that Uval." Tish sighed. "Anyway, when are we going to Venice? Do I have time to change?"

"What makes you think we're going to Venice?" the Doctor asked pouting.

"Amelia asked." Tish said simply.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes, "Five minutes."

"Good. Rory, go let Yumo out, Amelia go get dressed." Tish instructed them as she left to go change clothing.

"Not the dog." Rory nearly whined.

"I'll help you." Amelia offered, "He's probably in the bathroom near our rooms."

"Thanks Amel-, Amy." Rory smiled and took her hand, leaving the Doctor behind to sulk and debate divorces and murdering of Earth Nurses in private.

-Rory and Amelia-

"It's only Venice." Amelia told Rory as she watched him try and locate shoes that weren't his 'good work shoes' that looked a lot like really crummy old tennis shoes. She thought absently that maybe she should find him a new pair. The Doctor was good at 'finding' shoes, even though most came with initials on them.

"Venice has lots of stone streets, it's wet and there's a lot of walking." Rory told her. "That sucked. Really, George had us going EVERYWHERE. Every street had to be travelled; every museum and market had to be seen."

Amelia made a face; Mr. Mitchell was very excitable and not too nice. "Find running shoes."

"Why running shoes?" Rory asked.

"Whenever we go anywhere he thinks will be peaceful we always end up running, sometimes swimming." Amelia stated looking at her worn and mismatched shoes.

"He taught you how to swim?" Rory looked surprised.

"No. He grabbed me and jumped in the water then lifted me out before I drowned." Amelia shrugged. "You can teach me." She said looking at him happily.

"I could." Rory nodded and finally located a pair of shoes that didn't look too horribly hard to run in. "Any idea who these belong to?" He asked looking at the large selection of shoes.

"Luke." Amelia said showing him how they lit up at the back.

"Who's Luke?" Rory asked, wondering.

"Sarah Jane's son." Amy said as a look of recognition came on Rory's face.

Rory choked and sat down on the floor hard. "Sarah Jane's SON? You had him on here…She let him on here!"

"The Doctor borrowed him for a little while to babysit me. We didn't ask Sarah Jane first though…she was a little mad." Amelia said, not noticing Rory's expressions.

"So she knows the Doctor has you?" Rory asked wanting to know if Sarah Jane was aware of the truth.

"No!" Amelia said quickly, "And we can't tell her."

"Why not?" Rory asked frowning.

"The Doctor said not to and if we tell her they might take me away and put me in a secret foster home on Earth! I don't want to go to Earth." Amelia turned to glare at him.

"Why not? Earth's your home." Rory told her.

"I know. But it's not my home without Aunt Sharon and since I can't have Aunt Sharon I'm not having Earth." Amelia said defiantly.

"Aunt Sharon misses you." Rory said, pulling on the shoes.

"I miss her." Amelia admitted to him quietly. "I miss Aunt Sharon and Aunt Michelle. I miss Henry. I miss everyone. I even miss your stupid brother."

Rory looked up at her to see her eyes watering, tears not quite shed. "Amy?"

"I miss my bed and my bears. My toys. I miss my colouring kits. I miss going to church! I miss school with everyone else and I miss Aunt Sharon's cooking all the time and miss playing games with Rory!" Amy sat down tears starting to come down her face.

"I am Rory." Rory said seeing the girl's tears.

"MY Rory. Not older Rory. My Rory who liked games and played adventure. Rory who built forts with blankets and who helped me sneak treats and who burned marshmallows on the heater trying to make s'mores! I miss the Rory who like going and seeing new places. I want my Rory back!" She said tears falling as her voice got more frantic. "My Rory who's always been my Rory! My Rory that doesn't hide from strange things. I tried to get my Rory back but now Rory's not adventurers…"

"I am to an adventurer." Rory told her as he sat next to her on the bed, leaving his shoes undone in favour of comforting his friend. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"Only because the Doctor took you." Amelia sniffled. "You wouldn't be here if you had the choice. You'd be gone and wouldn't be going to Venice. You're on Earth and not like you use to be. Stop being a boring adult and be my Rory again?" She pleaded.

"I'll…Okay, I'll be your Rory again and for always if you promise me one thing." Rory said as he hugged her.

"What?" Amelia sniffled.

"Promise me that you'll always be my Amelia, no matter what name you go by and who you're with; no matter how far away you go in time or space." Rory said wrapping his arms around her in a hug.

"I promise." Amelia swore against his shoulder.

"Good. Then let's go to Venice." Rory said, standing up and offering her his hand.

-The Doctor-

The Doctor twirled a small camera in his hands as he stood at the console. He'd procured it for Amelia recently and Venice seemed as good a time as any to give it to her. Usually he'd protest companions documenting all their journeys in time and space – at least with a large amount of photos – but he knew Amelia wouldn't broadcast them to everyone.

"What are you thinking about?" Tish asked, startling him and making him yelp in surprise, fumbling the camera so it landed with a crash on the floor.

"Right now I'm thankful this thing is fall proof." He said as he picked it up. "And wondering why you think startling me is funny."

"Same reason you think it's entertaining to figure out what makes women take so long to get dressed." Tish said smirking.

"Oh, I have a theory. Borrowed it from Rory." the Doctor said proudly.

"What theory is that then?" Tish asked, leaning against the console railing.

"Hair washing." the Doctor said seriously as he nodded, "Women have too much hair."

"Says the man who takes two hour long baths." Tish scoffed, "And no. Not all women shower before changing every time. Try again."

"Damn Rory." He muttered crossly. "And it was one hour."

"Only because I made you get out so we could go somewhere since we were out of milk!"

"I had solid bubbles that turned blue and pink!" He sounded outraged, "Why would I get out for milk!"

Someone cleared their throat and both turned to look. Rory stood in the doorway wearing a pair of tennis shoes that lit up with each step he took – the Doctor made a mental note to return them to Luke – a pair of black trousers he knew to be Harry Sullivan's; a button up pale pink long sleeved shirt over a light blue shirt he nearly yelled in outrage was his…well, an older him's.

He held an enthusiastic grin that was belied by his eyes desperate want to not be there. "Ready to go to Venice?I know some excellent museums. Plus I know like four whole words of Italian."

Amelia grinned, her enthusiasm no where near fake, "Ready to go Doctor? Tish?"

"One moment." the Doctor handed her the camera he'd been toying with. "For you. I know you like drawing all our travels so I thought maybe you might possibly like a camera." He babbled, "I mean, it takes photos and video so you can do anything and I trust you not to broadcast everywhere – though it does that too – and well some species have this fear of photos stealing souls but that's not too hard to get around and-oomph!" His babbling was cut off by Amelia hugging him tightly.

"Thank you!" She said smiling up at the doctor.

"You're welcome." He adjusted his bowtie anxiously and sent the TARDIS spiralling out of the Vortex. Rory clung to the railing, Tish laughed and held onto the Console while Amelia hooked her arms like Rory around the railing.

The Doctor laughed as they landed and walked to the door. "Behold, Venice!" He cried as he threw open the door excitedly.

Rory looked out as Tish and Amelia came to stand by the door. "Venice is sandier than I recall."

The Doctor peeked out and scowled as both girls giggled, "I don't remember any lessons in school saying Venice had red dirt everywhere." Tish added to Rory.

"Doctor, does Venice have giant rats?" Amelia asked looking as a group of the animals passed nearby.

"That's a Kangaroo." Rory told her, "And no."

"I think we're a couple thousand miles off course." Tish told her. "Somewhere down under."

The Doctor ignored the snickering from both Adults. "Venice isn't as interesting as Australia." He said woodenly, "They don't have kickboxing overgrown rats nor do they have mammals that sweat milk, have duck bills and poison people."

"Oh God…Doctor, if this is some plot to capture a platypus…" Tish asked wary of the doctor.

"I'd name it Perry," the Doctor told her honestly with a hint of humour, "and it could live in the bath."

[AN: You almost didn't get this today. Yeah, I lost power. Had a fire going and everything for warmth. Borrowing net doesn't work when there's no power to run a computer. Happily she got it back and gave me time to do other things...Two thousand words in one day. I am pro. So we've mentioned a few times now Sarah Jane wrote a book about Amelia's disappearance; 'Amelia Pond: The Girl who Disapeared'. What we want to know is, do you want to see bits of it? Like excerpts at the begining of certain chapters? Oh, and if you didn't catch it completely Yes, we did indeed make Rhys Williams - husband of Gwen Cooper - Rory's elder brother. We're well aware of the age/country difference. Give us time and all will be explained behind it, we swear! Enjoy!]