The Big Bang (Part Two)
The Doctor stood on a ladder, using the sonic to seal the hatch that would lead to the roof they'd just come from. It wouldn't do much, he knew. The Dalek was outside, all it had to do was drift down to a window and crash through it, but he was stalling. He knew the others would rush off, probably back to the Pandorica if just for the familiarity of the room, he couldn't let that happen. He needed to keep them as far from the room as possible for as long as possible.
"Doctor, come on," River was rushing him, her gun ready in her hand as she looked up at him from the floor.
"Shhh," he hissed, making a show of listening though he hadn't heard anything in a couple minutes now. He could tell though, that they were growing impatient, he would need to distract them with something else, "It's moving away, finding another way in," he declared, climbing down from the ladder, "It needs to restore its power before it can attack again. Now, that means we've got exactly…" he checked his watch, "Four and a half minutes before it's at lethal capacity," he turned and began to lead them down the stairs, further into the museum, but making sure to keep leading them farther away from the Pandorica room.
"How do you know?" Rory asked.
"Because that's when it's due to kill me."
"Kill you?" River stopped, "What do you mean, kill you?"
"Oh, shut up, never mind," he glanced at her, not stopping his walking and forcing her to follow once more, "Better question: how can that Dalek even exist?" he asked, stepping into a hallway. He had a fairly good guess, but he didn't know for sure and if Amy or Rory or River had a better guess, he would have to adapt his plans, "It was erased from time and then it came back. How?"
"You said the light from the Pandorica..." Rory began, turning a corner after him into another exhibit room.
"It's not a light, it's a restoration field, but never mind. Call it a light. That light brought Amy back, but how could it bring back a Dalek when the Daleks have never existed?"
How could it bring back the Ambassador when she never existed either now? They were in the eye of the storm, so the figures in that room were all that was left of their species with how everything else was destroyed. He needed to be sure he was right.
"Ok, tell us," Amy huffed.
"When the TARDIS blew up, it caused a total event collapse," the Doctor spoke, working it out as he went, repeating out loud what he'd already thought in case one of them...probably River...saw a flaw in his logic, "A time explosion. It blasted every atom in every moment of the universe. Except..."
"Except inside the Pandorica."
"The perfect prison," he snapped his fingers at her, "Inside it, perfectly preserved, a few billion atoms of the universe as it was. In theory, you could extrapolate the whole universe from a single one of them, like cloning a body from a single cell. And we've got the bumper family pack."
And…if that was right, then the Ambassador would be restored, because one of those atoms would have had a replica of her in it, which was how the Dalek came back. If they went back to the Pandorica and the Ambassador was restored, he would know that his theory was right and there might be a chance to restart the universe!
"No, too fast, I'm not getting it," Rory called out.
"The box contains a memory of the universe, and the light transmits the memory. And that's how we're going to do it."
"Do what?" Amy asked.
"Relight the fire. Reboot the universe. Come on!" he turned, hurrying through the door of the exhibit into another hall.
"Doctor, you're being completely ridiculous!" River told him, "The Pandorica partially restored ONE Dalek. If it can't even reboot a single life form properly, how will it reboot the whole of reality?"
The Doctor spun on his heel to face her to explain...though he refused to bring up the Ambassador and her potential restoration, if he said it out loud the expectation would be there…and if he really was wrong and she was still a statue…he'd be letting down more than just himself. And, if he was being honest, he had a sneaking suspicion that River might just prefer the Ambassador to him and he'd really rather not have her doubly mad at him right now, "What if we give it a moment of infinite power?" he said instead, "Transmit the light from the Pandorica to every particle of space and time simultaneously?"
"Well, that would be lovely, dear, but we can't, because it's completely impossible."
"Ah, no, you see, it's not," he grinned, rubbing his hands together, "It's ALMOST completely impossible. One spark is all we need."
"For what?"
"Big Bang Two! Now listen..." he had only just taken a step into the next exhibit room…when a laser flashed and struck him in the chest, sending him flying back as the Dalek rolled towards them from the other end of the room.
"Exterminate!" it cried, "Exterminate!"
The humans reacted instantly, Rory pulling Amy to the side for cover while River slid to her knees beside the Doctor, frantically trying to check him.
"Get back!" Rory called, seeing her so exposed, "River, get back now!"
"Exterminate!" the Dalek took aim once more.
But Rory had her back, aiming his gun-hand at the enemy and firing at it, momentarily draining it of its energy once more.
"Doctor," River tried to shake him slightly, being careful not to touch any exposed part of his skin, "Doctor, it's me, River. Can you hear me? What is it? What do you need?"
The Doctor winced, his face scrunching as he tried to move, his entire body feeling like it was made of lead, before he managed to trigger the Manipulator and disappear before River's eyes.
He inhaled sharply, his head spinning, when he reappeared standing up instead of lying down…which did explain why the other him he'd seen in his past had collapsed so suddenly. And so, he, too, tumbled down the stairs until he came to a halt before his past-self, Amy and Rory behind him, just outside the doors to the Pandorica room.
He could hear his past-self rush over, kneeling beside him, and the humming of the sonic as he searched for what happened.
"Doctor, it's you," and there was Rory, worried, "How can it be you?"
"Doctor, is that you?" Amy too, sounding disturbed.
And now his past-self would realize it was him, "Yeah, it's me. Me from the future."
Right then, right as his past-self had realized it was a Dalek wound, he reached out and grabbed the man by the jacket, jerking him forward, "You need to get them away," he whispered to himself, "Draw the Dalek away so I can rig the Pandorica to fly to the TARDIS."
It was, truly, all he could muster the strength to say right now, and so he fell back to the floor, his eyes shut, body still. He had said what he'd heard himself say when he had been that past-version of himself. It was just enough to work out why he needed to fly the Pandorica into the TARDIS, enough to give him another reason to draw the Dalek away.
And he would know, someone would be there when (if) the Ambassador was restored.
"Are you..." Amy gasped, "I mean, is he...is he dead?"
"What?" his past-self startled, and he could hear himself stand, "Dead? Yes, yes. Of course he's dead," before the man stepped over him to hurry up the stairs, "Right, I've got 12 minutes, that's good."
"12 minutes to live? How is that good?"
"You can do loads in 12 minutes...suck a mint, buy a sledge, have a fast bath. Come on, the roof!"
"We can't leave you here, dead!" Rory was quite the insistent man, wasn't he?
"Oh, good! Are you in charge now? So, tell me, what are we going to do about Amelia?"
"Where did she go?" Amy was walking away now, looking for her own past-self.
"Amelia?" leave it to Rory to help her instead of do as he was told.
"There is no Amelia," his past-self argued, trying to get them going, now more desperate than ever to get them away from the body on the ground. The longer they lingered, the longer HE couldn't get to the Pandorica. They didn't know how long it might take the Ambassador to restore, he didn't want her to be alone when it happened, "From now on, there never was. History is still collapsing."
"How can I be here, if she's not?" Amy asked.
"You're an anomaly," his past-self began to go fast, "We all are. We're all hanging on at the eye of the storm, but the eye is closing, and if we don't do something, reality will never have happened. Today, just dying is a result. Now, come on!" he could hear himself storming off, "Move it! Come on!"
He waited, tense, listening for the sounds of Amy and Rory hurrying off after his past-self…when something, a coat, was draped over him by Rory, judging by the footsteps, before he too ran off with Amy. He gave it another 30 seconds to be sure, before he pulled the jacket off him and sat up.
He winced, groaning at the tug of his wound. It wasn't fatal or lethal despite what he'd told the others, the Dalek hadn't had time to reach that point yet, but…it hurt like hell. It was debilitating and it winded him, it left him feeling sluggish and exhausted and it hurt to move. But he had to.
By now the Dalek would have left the room and he needed to get in there.
He took a deep breath and forced himself to his feet, half staggering across the foyer to the doors. He winched, straining to pull the mop out of where it was lodged and yanking one of the doors open. He sagged against the door frame a moment, staring into the room, wanting to be sure the Dalek really was gone, and then his gaze drifted to the Ambassador's statue.
He let out a breath at the sight…there was some color coming back!
It wasn't as stone-like and grey, it was like colors with a washed-out sheen over it, but it meant she was restoring!
He looked at his watch, if she could restore like that in the mere minutes it had been, she should be back shortly before the others realized he was lying and came to find him again. He pushed himself off the doorway, stumbling slightly, before catching his balance and making for the Pandorica.
He paused just beside the Ambassador's still form, reaching out to touch her cheek, just this once, one last time before he would actually feel her again, before she would ever let him do so again. He closed his eyes, leaning forward so his forehead rested against hers.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to her.
For everything.
For her petrification, for the Pandorica, for his TARDIS exploding. For keeping truths from her, for the connection they shared, for picking the humans. For the war, for the Moment, for ever making her feel as though he only wanted her around due to the bond they shared. For just…everything that had gone wrong since she met him.
He took a breath, pulling away to look at her, his thumb absently stroking her cheek, before he pulled away and hobbled into the Pandorica, sinking down onto the chair and pulling the sonic out of his pocket to start his work.
As he did so, every so often, he would glance up to check on the Ambassador, watching the transformation before his eyes. Until, finally, with a gasp, the Ambassador jerked back, restored. It looked as though the petrification had caught her as she had been moving to brace herself, and now she was finishing the move and freezing like she was waiting for something to blast into her.
It took her a few seconds, he assumed disorientation would be expected, to realize nothing was going on and to slowly straighten, opening her eyes.
He could see her looking around the room first, frowning deeply at the realization she wasn't in the underhenge any longer…followed by a stiffening as her sense of time caught up to her, alerting her to the fact that everything was wrong with it, not just her being near 2,000 years removed from the last she'd been aware.
"Oh, my stars…" she breathed, and he could see the moment she sensed HIM there, how she turned, lowering her arms, "What happened?" she asked, shaking her head, confused and lost. One minute she was in the underhenge and the next thing she knew she was standing in a museum two millennia later.
The Doctor swallowed hard, moving to continue his work on the Pandorica, "The TARDIS exploded," he told her, knowing he didn't have to go into all the detail he would have for the humans with her, she knew in how her eyes widened what it meant, "Rory shot Amy, but we saved her using the Pandorica…" he glanced at her, "You were petrified," he nodded his head past her.
She turned to see a statue or two, out of range of the light of the Pandorica, in the corners of the room. She let out a breath, turning back to him, about to ask how she was back now when he winced, his arm flinching as he twisted too much, dropping the sonic and she saw his wound. She hurried over to him, "What happened to you?" she asked him, snatching up the sonic.
"Dalek," he rubbed his chest, "It was petrified too, but the light of the Pandorica restored it. It came after us."
"After you?" she shook her head, "But you're here…"
And then she caught sight of the Manipulator on his wrist.
"Did a bit of hopping around," he admitted with a grimace, "Had to lure it away so…" he trailed off, his gaze going around the inside of the Pandorica and over to her.
She nodded slowly, understanding. He needed time to do…whatever it was he was doing to the Pandorica, and to give her enough time to restore as well without the danger of the Dalek around, "It got you," she murmured.
"The others will work it out that I'm not dead and come back soon," he said instead of confirming it, it was quite obvious what happened.
"What are you doing?" she moved closer, eyeing the wires he'd exposed, some partially hooked into the Manipulator.
"I need to be able to fly the Pandorica into the TARDIS."
"Why in the world would you do that?"
"It's the only way to reverse all this," he told her, "The Pandorica has atoms of the original Universe saved in it. If I give it a moment of power that would transmit it to every moment in time…"
"It could extrapolate the Universe, restore it."
He nodded, "Exactly."
The Ambassador glanced back at the doors, half expecting the others to rush through it at any moment…and if the Dalek was still out there, it would undoubtedly follow them. They had to be quick. She nodded to herself, moving to crouch before him, using the sonic to scan and rework the rest of the wires at the base of his chair, not wanting him to have to stretch or strain to reach them. She used her teeth to pry off her gloves on one hand to get a better grip on a few of them
It was lucky she did, she made quick work of it, managing to get them set up just as a shout went up behind them.
"Doctor!"
She looked back to see Amy running towards them, Rory and River Song behind her.
"Sadie!" River gasped, spotting her, "You're back!"
The Ambassador nodded, giving up on correcting them for the time being, this was more important and she needed to concentrate.
"What are you doing?" Rory eyed them, the Doctor who had been resting back against the chair to gather his strength now blinking at them as the Ambassador worked away.
The Ambassador looked up when the light suddenly grew brighter in the room, "We need to hurry," she looked at the Doctor, holding out his sonic to him with her hand on one end so their skin wouldn't touch as he took it, before moving back down to the wires, "Reality's collapsing. It's speeding up."
"Look at this room," River realized, noticing now that all the displays were empty save for the Pandorica, even the petrified statues were gone.
"Where did everything go?" Amy spun in a circle.
"History is being erased. Time is running out."
"If you all could move back a bit?" the Ambassador made a shooing motion, "I can't concentrate with you all so close. If we have any chance of rebooting the universe, we need to be able to get this box moving in time."
"I can help," River offered, "It's my Manipulator, I can give you codes if you need them."
The Doctor nodded, a silent sign to Amy and Rory to move back, which they did, going to sit against a wall and watch the three of them working.
"I hope you know what you're doing," River muttered to the Time Lords, "This is reckless, even for you Doctor."
"It has to be done," the Doctor argued quietly.
"It doesn't have to be YOU though," River countered.
"We don't have time to rig it up remotely."
The Ambassador faltered in her work at that, realizing what she'd missed about all this. She had thought the Doctor was rigging the box to fly to the coordinates in the Manipulator, to send the Pandorica to the explosion…but she knew River was right. They didn't have enough time to do that, even with the three of them working on it. The room was already growing brighter, more orange, time was going too fast.
Someone was going to have to manually fly the Pandorica into the explosion, using the Manipulator to connect them to the box enough to control it.
And the Doctor had set himself up to be that person.
"River, I need to talk to Amy," the Doctor said, and River nodded before heading over to the two humans. There was silence between the two Time Lords for a moment, before the Doctor tried to give her a smile, "Well, on the bright side…won't have to worry about our…well, you know, anymore."
"Don't say that," she whispered, knowing he wasn't referring to just the connection but the fact that he wouldn't be around any longer to disrupt her life or make it difficult.
It hit her, just then, how unfair she had been to him, to this man who was willing to give his life, to never be born, if it meant the universe would be safe. He hadn't been selfish, during the war, he hadn't destroyed their planet and run away because he was afraid of dying for his people. Here he was, willing to die to save everyone else. In that moment she knew, he really HAD done what he had because the Universe was at stake, he was trying to keep it safe even now, at the expense of his own life.
She knew what an exploding TARDIS could do, what it would mean to fly into that explosion, the cracks he was worried about would close but he'd be on the other side of it, like he'd never been born.
She had focused so much on what he'd done to Gallifrey, so much on the taboo connection they had. She'd been so focused on doing anything she could to distance herself from him, using any method and thought she could to do it. It had taken her far too long to realize that he really was a good man at hearts, and now it was too late to get to know him. They shared a connection, yes, a terrible one, a destructive one, but there was nothing that said they had to be controlled by it or let it control them…or at least a…a friendship between them. There could have been boundaries, firm ones, put in place to ensure the connection didn't grow. But it could have been possible to be friends…
She looked at him once more, the beginnings of tears in her eyes though they never fell, she had never been one for crying in all her life. But seeing him smiling back at her, sadly, but with such understanding in his eyes…it brought her close.
"I'm sorry," she told him.
He moved his hand, as though he was about to touch her hand, but rested it on her arm, on her coat, instead, giving her a gentle squeeze before he pulled back, accepting her apology.
She opened her mouth to say something more, but Amy walked up. She glanced at the human and back to the Doctor, "I'll give you both a moment," she told them, turning to join River and Rory by the wall so the Doctor could speak to Amy in privacy.
"Hi," Amy said to him once the Ambassador stepped away.
"Amy Pond," he smiled at her, "The girl who waited. All night in your garden. Was it worth it?"
"Shut up. Of course it was."
"You asked me why I was taking you with me and I said 'no reason.' I was lying."
He was always lying, or not telling the truth, or telling anything but the truth. He should have been more honest, with Amy, with the Ambassador. He had so many regrets…
"It's not important."
"Yeah, it's the most important thing left in the universe. It's why I'm doing this. Amy, your house was too big. That big, empty house. And just you."
It wasn't just her, but…if he was right about the Pandorica and the Dalek, maybe he was right about this, about the crack in her wall. And maybe, just maybe, he'd have a chance to make up for his regrets…he just couldn't TELL her that, because if he was wrong he didn't want her to live with that feeling of guilt or failure and not know why she felt it.
"And Aunt Sharon."
"Where were your mum and dad? Where was...everybody who lived in that big house?"
Even as he asked about her childhood…his mind drifted to the Ambassador too. There was so much he didn't know about her too. What were her parents like, their professions, her childhood? Had she always wanted to be an Ambassador? What did…what did her husband do on Gallifrey?
"I lost my Mum and Dad."
Had the Ambassador lost her parents too? To the war? Before? Had they run out of regenerations or were they careful and on their first incarnations still?
"How? What happened to them? Where did they go?"
"I..." Amy blinked, her face scrunching as she struggled to remember, realizing, for the first time, that she couldn't remember, "I don't..."
"It's ok. Don't panic. It's not your fault."
"I don't even remember."
"There was a crack in time in the wall of your bedroom and it's been eating away at your life for a long time now. Amy Pond, all alone. The girl who didn't make sense. How could I resist?"
Ooh. Wasn't that a stark reminder of his personality? He never could resist things that interested him, mysteries, dangers, things that made him happy. He had that sort of weakness to him, and it had come out with the Ambassador, hadn't it? He'd made her uncomfortable with what HE wanted, how HE wanted to experience their connection. But it wasn't just him, it was her too, the connection was felt on BOTH ends. They had different views of their bond, she clearly thought it was dangerous…and he hadn't exactly shown the best judgement in hearing that and respecting her fears.
He just couldn't resist.
But…if this worked, he would do better.
He was trying to, right now, and he just needed more time to work on it, to prove it.
"How could I just forget?"
"Nothing is ever forgotten," he told her, being sure to keep eye contact, NEEDING her to not only hear him and but believe him, "Not really. But you have to try."
Amy didn't get a chance to speak as the ground began to shake.
"Doctor!" River shouted in warning, "It's speeding up!"
"There's going to be a very big bang," the Doctor told Amy quickly as the ginger girl put his sonic in his pocket, "Big Bang Two. Try and remember your family and they'll be there."
"How can I remember them if they never existed?" Amy countered.
"Because...you're special. That crack in your wall, all that time, the universe pouring into your head. You brought Rory back...you can bring them back, too. You just remember, and they'll be there."
He didn't have to worry about the Ambassador, she hadn't been eaten by the crack, she didn't need to be remembered. She…she might be back on Gallifrey, with her husband, for all he knew the war might never have happened if he hadn't been born. For all he knew, another Time Lord might have encountered Davros and seen something he hadn't, and destroyed him and his fledgling children first.
"YOU won't," Amy brought him back to the present as she stepped back from the Pandorica.
"You'll have your family back. You won't need your imaginary friend anymore," he laughed weakly, his words too similar to what he'd said to the Ambassador, "Amy Pond...crying over me, eh? Guess what?"
"What?"
"Gotcha."
He twitched his arm and the Pandorica began to close, Amy backing away from him, towards River, Rory, and the Ambassador. He kept his gaze on the Time Lady though, trying to reassure her it was ok, he was…content.
If this worked, what he told Amy to do, it would be brilliant.
If not…then at least the Universe would be safe, and that was enough.
The Ambassador swallowed hard as she watched him disappear from view, glancing over when she felt someone gripping her elbow in comfort to see River Song beside her though the woman's own gaze was on the box as it began to glow moments before it launched itself through the roof and into the sky. She stepped forward more, her gaze trained on the cube as it grew smaller and smaller, moving farther away, heading for the TARDIS.
She didn't even glance back when River's comm. beeped behind her.
"It's from the Doctor," River spoke quietly.
"What does it say?" Amy asked.
"'Geronimo.'"
The Ambassador couldn't help the snorting laugh that escaped her as the room around them filled with light…
~8~
With a deep gasp of breath, the Ambassador blinked, the bright light fading…only to see she was standing in the TARDIS, the Doctor's TARDIS. And he was right in front of her, rushing around the console, frantic…only to stop when he spotted her standing there.
"What?" he gaped at her, "No, wait…what?" he hurried over, though he stopped in front of her with wide eyes, "I don't…how…"
The Ambassador could only shake her head, "I should ask you that. How are you here?" she looked him up and down, "You…you were never born…"
"If something can be remembered it can come back," he said, "Amy."
The Ambassador nodded slowly, the girl had brought Rory back…clearly her memory was strong enough to bring him back as well.
"And you?"
The Ambassador rubbed her head, "I was in the Pandorica room, with Rory and Amy and River, and then…I was here."
"You weren't…" he cut himself off.
But she knew what he wanted to ask. She shook her head again, "I wasn't on Gallifrey," she confirmed.
It made sense now, why he looked so contrite when he had started to ask that. If he hadn't been born, things would be different, so much would. If he'd never been born then his TARDIS wouldn't have been put in a position to explode, the cracks never would have happened, and she would have still been on Gallifrey. Maybe there wouldn't have been a war, or maybe everything would have been destroyed without his efforts to stop it.
But he had clearly made steps to make sure that Amy would remember him, had likely hoped it would work and not known it would, or that would have been a very cruel thing to do to them all, letting them think he was going to die if he knew he wouldn't. If Amy remembered him, could bring him back, then there wouldn't have been enough time to experience a change in timelines like if he hadn't been born. Time had resumed and caught up to the point it had been when the Pandorica exploded, Amy was likely remembering right at that very moment.
The Doctor nodded at her response, though he didn't know what to say to it. He would have been devastated if the Ambassador had been back on a peaceful Gallifrey only to be ripped away and back to the TARDIS with a destroyed planet. There was no guarantee that she would have even had the same life if he'd never been born, with all the trouble he caused his people. For all he knew, the chaos he caused on other planets by meddling in their affairs might have been a reason for them to call in an Ambassador to settle things after he'd left, it could have been her, she might have been off-world so much with such a chaotic schedule that she didn't start a family because of it, she might have without him there to cause trouble. There was no telling.
He opened his mouth to say something when a loud beeping went off on the console. He glanced over his shoulder at it, then back at her, before rushing to the console.
The Ambassador slowly followed him, watching as he hit a few buttons and ran to the monitor, starting to smile at what he saw. She stepped closer, peering at the footage, Amy at her wedding, looking down at a blank journal with a cover shaped like the TARDIS.
"Come on," the Doctor stepped back suddenly, "We need to hurry."
"For what?" the Ambassador asked, following him out of the room as he dashed down a hall and into a large room filled to the brim with clothing.
"The wedding!" he called, disappearing into the rows of clothes, "Can't show up under dressed!"
The Ambassador shook her head, glancing around, eyeing the copious amount of fabric and…was that a rainbow coat? She took a breath, understanding he wanted to crash Amy's wedding, let the humans know he was back and…well, after everything that had happened, she could really do with a bit of joviality right now. She may not have been conscious of being petrified for near 2,000 years, but learning about it had been disturbing nonetheless.
Maybe, just this once, she would go along with his mad plan.
~8~
"Sorry!" Amy was shouting to her guests as she stood up at her wedding, cutting off her father as he was about to give his speech, "Sorry, everyone. But when I was a kid, I had an imaginary friend…" she pointedly ignored her mother's complaints, "The raggedy Doctor. My raggedy Doctor. But he wasn't imaginary. He was real. I remember you!" she shouted out, "I remember! I brought the others back, I can bring you home, too. Raggedy man, I remember you, and you are late for my wedding!" she fell quiet as the glasses around began to tinkle, to shake as something began to cause the chandelier to sway, "I found you. I found you in words, like you knew I would. That's why you told me the story...the brand new, ancient blue box. Oh, clever. Very clever!"
Rory tensed beside her as a wind picked up out of nowhere, an odd wheezing noise accompanying it, "Amy, what is it?"
"Something old. Something new. Something borrowed. Something blue."
Rory's eyes widened as a blue police telephone box began to materialize in the middle of their dance floor, the sight of it triggering something in his memory, "It's the Doctor!" he turned to Amy, "Is the Ambassador there too?" he stood, actually looking around as though she'd be there.
He could remember seeing a woman who looked like River Song walking about earlier, she had been there with him and Amy, but the Ambassador hadn't…he hoped the woman was alright…
Amy ignored him, literally walking over the table to hop to the ground and rush up to the doors, banging on them, "Ok, Doctor, did I surprise you this time?"
The doors were suddenly pulled open, the Doctor, wearing a top hate and white tie, with a coat that had tails, appeared, a white scarf draped over his shoulders. He grinned at Amy, "Er, yeah. Completely astonished. Never expected that. How lucky I happened to be wearing this old thing."
He stepped out onto the floor, looking around at everyone…when the Ambassador stepped out after him.
"Sorry for crashing your wedding, Amy," she offered the human, "I hope it's not too much trouble."
Amy just beamed, looking like she was about to hug the woman, before pulling back, then holding up her hand as though to high-five her, before thinking better of it…and settling on bumping her hip with the Time Lady. Because the Ambassador was NOT dressed in her regular attire of long coat and gloves, but for the occasion. It seemed like a fitted, strapless dark green dress that went to the ground, with a sheer material over it that formed a high-neckline and sleeves down to her wrists. Her hair was up in an elegant twist.
The Doctor gave the two girls a gentle smile at the greeting, before spinning in a circle to speak to the other guests, "Hello, everyone. I'm Amy's imaginary friend, but I came anyway," he moved over to Amy's bewildered father, patting him on the shoulder in lieu of a handshake, "Even brought a plus one, meet the Ambassador!"
"Hello," the Time Lady gave a small wave.
"You absolutely, definitely may kiss the bride," Amy called, moving towards him.
But the Doctor sidestepped, "Amelia! From now on, I shall be leaving the...kissing duties to the brand new Mr. Pond!" he moved over to Rory, slapping the man on the back.
"No," Rory shook his head, "I'm not Mr. Pond. That's not how it works."
"Yeah, it is."
"Yeah, it is."
The Ambassador gave the human a gentle, if sad, smile for that. She and her husband had never quite been like that. A good friendship that grew stronger, a partnership that just made sense to move to a marriage. A love and comfort between them, but…even she could admit it wasn't quite the same as what Amy and Rory shared.
…for the first time, she found herself wondering what the Doctor's relationship with his wife was like. He had to have had a partner of some sort, she knew he had children, at least one grandchild if the rumors were true.
"Right then, everyone," the Doctor called out, "I'll move my box. You're going to need the space," he opened the doors to step in, "I only came for the dancing," he gave them a wink and hurried in to pilot the box away.
Amy moved over to the Ambassador's side, "He IS coming back right?" she asked the Time Lady, "And not in like 2 more years?"
The Ambassador sighed, "If he's not back in 2 minutes, I'll hunt down River and we'll go find him," she reached into a pocket of her dress to show Amy the Vortex Manipulator she'd snagged off the console.
She'd made sure, while they'd been piloting to the wedding, to memorize the TARDIS basecodes in the off chance that she ever had to teleport into the TARDIS. The Doctor had done a lot of 'hopping' as he'd called it with River's Vortex Manipulator, including into the box. If she was ever separated from him and didn't have a key with her...she really needed to get her hands on one...she needed to be able to get in.
~8~
The Ambassador stood off to the side of the reception area, watching the humans as they celebrated Amy and Rory's marriage. Humans certainly were more…expressive in their joy than Time Lords were. Subdued wasn't the right word, but less wild would be a way to describe marriages on Gallifrey. There usually was a meal afterwards, mostly for the two families not friends, meant to represent the joining of families instead of the joining of two individuals. There wasn't any dancing or boisterous music involved so this wasn't really a situation she felt comfortable in.
Though the Doctor seemed to have been making up for lost time. He'd gone from creating his own rambunctious dance with Amy, who had laughed so hard Rory had to carry her off the floor, to teaching all the children an odd dance where his arms were thrust up in the air and wiggled around. She was quite relieved when a slower, more intimate sounding song began to play, effectively slowing him down. He certainly had more energy in him than many Time Lords she'd known.
"What do you say?" the Doctor's voice spoke beside her as he came to stand next to her, the two of them looking out at Amy and Rory enjoying the closeness of the song, "One last dance before we head off?"
The Ambassador glanced at him, "Doctor…"
"No touching," he promised, holding his hands up in surrender, "Waist and shoulders only. Promise," he crossed his hearts, "Come on, Sadie, we've earned a little moment to breathe."
"It's the Ambassador," she huffed, but started to walk towards the dance floor, much to his delight.
He kept his word though, when she turned to face him, moving her hands onto his shoulders, covered by his jacket, while he placed his hands on her hips, covered by her dress. It was slightly uncomfortable, the silence that fell between them, how awkward they both felt compared to the couples around them.
Surprisingly, it was the Ambassador who spoke first, "I'm sorry," she repeated the words she had spoken before he'd launched himself into the exploding TARDIS.
"It all worked out," he shrugged, giving her a smile. He really did NOT want to talk about what happened just before, he could still feel that fear churning in his stomach at the thought that he might have been wrong about the restoration light and she could still be stone and he would have been alone again. It was better to focus on the now, the two of them together, safe and alive, "Everything's fixed, I'm back and…"
"Not that," she cut in gently, "I mean," she winced, realizing how that sounded, "I was sorry, you felt it had to be you, the entire situation. But…I mean, I'm sorry, for how I've treated you."
His smile grew a little more sad, "It's fine. I understand."
"It's not," she countered, "I…I don't think I can forgive what happened to Gallifrey," she began carefully, knowing she'd said much the same before but wanting to lay everything out now, not wanting to risk anything happening and words being left unsaid again, "But…I…I trust you. I trust that you truly felt you HAD to do it, that there was no other option. You're…" she took a breath, "You're a good man, Doctor, you prove it over and over again. You're a true doctor and I don't think you would ever hurt someone if you could help it, I don't think you'd hurt them intentionally."
"I wouldn't," he spoke, serious, seeing that this wasn't a time for joking or making light.
"So…the only reason I can see for why you would do something hurtful, is if you didn't know it was."
He blinked, "Slightly confused…cheat sheet?"
The Ambassador looked away a moment, it was difficult to bring herself to speak of this, it was so ingrained in her that it was taboo and forbidden, but…it had to be said. It was dawning on her that he really didn't understand why his attempts to touch her were so disturbing to her. He saw her reasoning as 'it's forbidden' by the laws of their people and not why she, personally, did not want it.
"I am…terrified…" she admitted, "Of the connection we share. I'm horrified by it. I am…so scared of it getting stronger. The horror stories…"
"They may just be that," he pointed out gently, "Stories. We…we only have the High Council's word on it and, in my experience, they haven't always been the most honest or selfless."
The Ambassador glanced away a moment. A tiny voice in her mind whispered that...maybe the Doctor was right, maybe he was right that the High Council lied about the Alphega connection. Maybe they didn't want their people to give into the connection for another reason. They ONLY had the High Council's own research and reports to learn from. A brief flash of the Doctor's reaction to his enemies in their ships above Stonehenge, that dark promise in his eyes at the threat against her, that drive she could see to keep her safe, further made her question. HOW could the Doctor have reached that point, a reaction that should only occur further down the connection, so early? It was wrong compared to what she was taught and...she shook her head, shoving the traitorous and dangerous thoughts from her mind.
"It may be true," she offered, "But…Doctor…do you really want to risk it? If it's not, it could…it could destroy both of us and…I don't want to become that. I am so scared of it all. I know it's been a century for you, longer even, but for me…the War just happened. I've just lost my planet and people and everything…I don't want to lose myself too."
He nodded slowly, seeing how genuine she was, how truly frightened this connection made her. When she put it like that…it truly was a large risk to take and if he was wrong, which he could admit he was at times, he would be putting her life at risk. He never wanted to do that to anyone if he could help it. He was the Doctor, he was supposed to help and heal and comfort people, he had a duty to care. He just…he'd gotten so caught up in having another one of his people back, and to find out they had this connection…it overwhelmed him. He just wanted to feel the connection to his people again, to feel something again, to feel something good instead of constant pain and guilt and loneliness.
"I understand," he told her, offering her a true, if small, smile, though it faltered a moment later, "So what do we do now?"
She could only shrug and shake her head, "I don't know," she let out a long breath, "I just…I know that I…I do want to get to know you. I…just because we have this bond, it doesn't mean we need to let it consume us or control us or…or that we have to let it strengthen. There has to be something we can do to…to slow its progression."
"I'm sure there is," he agreed, lightly squeezing his hands at her hips, "We've managed a bit so far. Gloves, coats, there's probably loads of ways to work around it."
The Ambassador relaxed at hearing him willing to think of ways to prevent skin-touching, "Yes," she nodded, "I…I think we could be friends," she added, offered, "We…I'd like to stay," she spoke, "In the TARDIS, if that's alright?" he nodded firmly, "It'll be easier if we are at least friends."
He smiled, "Friends," he agreed.
A part of him, a small part, one likely clinging to the connection they had, wanted more than that. But a rational part of him, one he was trying to encourage at least when it came to the Ambassador, knew it was too soon to want that so strongly he'd risk what the Ambassador was offering. It might come in time, maybe for both of them, when they'd healed more.
For now…for now, friends would be wonderful.
"Now," he smiled wider, "What say we leave the Ponds to their merriment?" he hummed, glancing over at Amy and Rory, "2,000 years. The boy who waited. Good on you, mate."
"Yeah," the Ambassador agreed with a small smile, "They deserve some time alone and in peace."
The Doctor let out a mock-scoff at the insinuation that he was disruptive, before laughing and offering her his elbow. She took a breath and linked her hand through it, relieved he'd offered that and not his bare hand. He gave her a wink, a sign he would try his hardest to make this work, before he turned to lead her out of the hall. They made their way into the crisp night air, heading for the TARDIS which was parked just a few feet away from the building.
The Doctor had just gotten his key into the door when a voice spoke behind them, "Did you dance?" River song asked as she approached, "Well, you two always dance at weddings, don't you?"
"I suppose that's a 'spoiler' then?" the Ambassador asked, knowing she hadn't danced in all the time she'd known River till now.
River just smirked.
The Doctor pulled the TARDIS-like journal out of his coat pocket, handing it back to River, noticing, again, how she made sure not to touch his skin or allow their fingers to brush, "The writing's all back, but I didn't peek."
"That must be a first," the Ambassador remarked.
River nodded, even as she spoke to the Doctor, "Thank you."
"Are you alright, River?" the Ambassador asked her after a moment.
"Hmm?" she looked over at her.
"You clearly know a great deal about us," the Ambassador replied, "About the Doctor's enemies, Time Lord enemies, like the Daleks."
"Yes, I do."
"Then you knew exactly what you were facing in the museum. Facing down a Dalek is never easy, is never not-terrifying. Are you alright?"
River smiled gently at her concern, seeming both touched and somewhat familiar with it, "It was one Dalek," she said instead, "It wasn't like we were trapped in the middle of their Asylum."
"River."
She chuckled lightly, "I'm fine, sweetie," she glanced past them and back at the reception, "Besides, weddings are events you can't help but feel happy at."
The Doctor nodded absently as the Ambassador handed over the Manipulator, "Are you married, River?" he asked conversationally.
"Are you asking?" River teased, slipping the Manipulator around her wrist.
"Yes."
"Yes."
"No," he blinked, realizing how that sounded, "Hang on. Did you think I was asking you to marry me," he just barely managed to stop himself glancing at the Ambassador, "Or asking if you were married?"
River merely smirked, enjoying how flustered he was getting, "Yes."
"No, but was that yes or…or yes?"
"Yes," River managed to hold it in a single moment longer before she burst out laughing, "Oh, your face!"
The Doctor looked back, hearing the Ambassador chuckle, and shook his head, realizing he'd been teased.
"River," the Ambassador spoke as the woman began to put in a sequence of codes in the Manipulator, "Who are you?" though she didn't expect an answer, not a straightforward one anyway.
"You're going to find out very soon now," and River delivered as expected, "And I'm sorry, but that's when everything changes."
The Doctor just rolled his eyes as she slapped the Manipulator and vanished, "She's SO dramatic, isn't she?"
The Ambassador snorted, "Says the man who just crashed a wedding after being erased from time."
He pointed at her like he was going to argue before nodding and lowering his hand to unlock the TARDIS. He paused as he pulled the key out, turning to her, "Open your hand."
"What?"
"Trust me," he offered, waiting till she did so, not commenting on the slightest hesitation he saw, before he held the key to the TARDIS by the chain attached to it, and dropped it into her hand, "Just in case," he told her.
She smiled, curling her fingers around it and nodding, "I'll put it in my pocket once we've gotten changed."
He grinned and pushed the doors to the box open, striding in.
"Why do you push the doors open?" she asked, following him to the console, "The instructions say 'pull to open.'"
"Instructions?" he scoffed, "Instructions are just guidelines."
She shook her head at him, moving to help get the box ready to go, each of them taking one half of the console, though she was in the middle of struggling to pull a lever down when the doors were thrown open as Amy rushed in.
"Oi!" the ginger woman snapped, "Where are you off to? We haven't even had a snog in the shrubbery yet."
Rory, who had followed and politely shut the door for her, huffed, "Amy!"
"Shut up...it's my wedding."
"OUR wedding."
"Sorry, you two," the Doctor called over, "Shouldn't have slipped away. Bit busy, you know?"
"You just saved the whole of space and time. Take the evening off. Maybe a bit of tomorrow."
Even as he said it the Ambassador knew the Doctor wouldn't ever do it. He cared too much to not fly off to help people if they needed it.
He confirmed her thoughts only a moment later, "Space and time isn't safe yet. The TARDIS exploded for a reason. Something drew the TARDIS to this particular date, and blew it up."
The Ambassador looked over as a phone on the console began to ring, though the Doctor didn't seem to notice.
"Why? And why now? The silence, whatever it is, is still out there, and I have to..."
"Hello?" the Ambassador spoke, unintentionally cutting him off, to answer the phone, figuring she'd have more luck picking that device up than getting the TARDIS to let her operate the console correctly, "Um, I'm the Ambassador," she paused to listen, "Yes, I know the Doctor. Sorry, who's escaped?" she looked to the Doctor a moment later, "Do I want to know why someone is claiming that Isis 'escaped' and is on the loose on the Orient Express in space?"
"What?" he shook his head, moving over to take the phone from her, "Hi, sorry, this must be a bad line, Isis couldn't have escaped, it's not possible. She was sealed into the Seventh Obelisk. I was at the prayer meeting," he sighed, "Give us a mo," and pressed the phone to his shoulder so he could speak to Amy and Rory, "Sorry, something's come up. This will have to be goodbye."
Amy smirked, "Yeah, I think it's goodbye. Do you think it's goodbye?" she asked Rory.
He smiled and nodded, "Definitely goodbye."
Amy grinned and ran to the door, pulling one open to wave, shouting, "Goodbye! Goodbye!" and shutting the door.
The Doctor laughed, picking up the phone again, "Don't worry about a thing, Your Majesty. We're on our way."
He put the phone down, grinning at them, before pulling the lever the Ambassador had been trying to get working with a shout of, "Geronimo!"
Sending them off on their next adventure.
A/N: I think the Doctor and Sadie have finally reached an understanding of each other. The Ambassador is finally at a place where she's really ready to get to know the Doctor instead of avoid him. She can't forgive him, no matter the truly good reasons he had to do what he did, because that loss is a devastating one to her. But she's come to trust him and she's come to see him as a person and not her Alphega or the man who destroyed her planet. She's hinted at as much before, but I think this is the first time she's actually meant it in the sense that she's convinced now, it's not just saying 'I know you're a good person' but believing it. She's ready to learn about him, open to being friends with him...
Though, given the sort of man he is, friendship may evolve to something more now that she's not actively fighting him or pushing him away ;) ;)
And the Doctor has finally come to understand WHY she's so afraid of the connection. It's not just because of what they're taught, she's not just going along with it because 'it's the law,' but because it's a very understandable fear and she brings up very good points that it's not worth a risk to both their lives to find out if the High Council was wrong about the connection. Now that he's come to really hear her views and understand her feelings, he can work on his own letting go. She's let go of her avoidance of him, of pushing him away, and now he must let go of trying to push for the connection. He's already regretted how he let it escalate, how he came across to her, but now it's out in the open, a real promise and effort to work on it.
I feel like this is a good turning point for them, being open with each other and working together can only make OTHER connections, not the one-that-shall-not-be-named, stronger ;)
Now if only the TARDIS would warm up to the Ambassador too lol :)
And River, the River we've seen in this story is closer to her end, she's matured and grown up and learned things, healed from other things. I can say she's probably got a bit more of a tragic past than the River in Angel's story, though not quite tragic in the sense of physical hardship dealt by the Silence but more just...she's really going to have a LOT of trust issues for reasons we'll find out in the next story }:) We'll see more when we get to 'earlier' Rivers, before the healing really takes hold, how her past has affected her. Her past will have a tiny bit to do with why she may, at times, come across as though she prefers the Ambassador to the Doctor or is less annoyed by her or trusts her word over his, the Doctor lies much more.
This story, though, will have 2 more episodes left to it, the Christmas Carol episode (3 chapters) and the Death of the Doctor/Sarah Jane Adventures episode (1 chapter), so it will, sadly, be over in about 2 weeks :( But that at least gets us one step closer to the unfinished stories being completed and a new set of stories to update ;)
Some notes on reviews...
I plan to update Claire's story, no worries ;) I was working on getting my unfinished stories complete in order of chapters left. So once I finish this story, in about 2 weeks, I'll be doing 1 more episode for Angel (3 chapters), and then resuming Claire's to get season 2 squared away :) I should be getting to her, if all goes to plan, around the 23rd or 24th of June ;) I'm so glad you've enjoyed her story so far! :)
I can understand Amy's long obsession with the Doctor, to meet someone that amazing so young would certainly have an impact on her life :) And to see her travel with him, literally her longest and biggest dream coming true was heartwarming to watch :) The part I cannot get behind though is how it is implied in her words/actions that she was very willing have a one night stand with the Doctor literally the night before her wedding to Rory :( No one deserve their fiance sleeping with someone else/cheating on them right before they get married, or at any point in the relationship :( That was the part that really took me a while to work past and eventually come to like Amy. She had to really work for it and prove her love for Rory, prove her faithfulness and her care for him before I began to forgive her, in my mind lol. A smaller part that set me back was when Rory died in the dreamworld and Amy said she really didn't know she actually loved Rory until that moment, because...marriage, to me, is a HUGE step. To me, it should be forever and so you need to be very sure before going in that you're all in and not making a mistake. For Amy to agree to marry Rory when she admits she didn't know if she actually loved him that much, I was like 'why did you even agree in the first place?' :( Amy came a VERY long way though and she really won me over in the end :) The OC popped into my head largely in Amy's early days and just refuses to leave lol. She's sort of a wake up call for Amy, to realize she's done wrong and to lose someone she eventually realizes she loved because of her own actions, it doesn't always end in forgiveness, sort of thing, and would probably be a way for Amy to be more aware and careful how she treats people, to not let love go or let anything come between it when she gets it again one day :)
The Doctor was definitely trying to focus on the 'it's going to work, she'll be back' part of his plan lol, for exactly that reason. If he stops to think, even for a moment, that it may not work and he might lose the Ambassador, he'd be crushed :(
Lol, I'm glad it made you happy! :D I try to respond to any questions that come up in reviews or comments that I feel bring up good points or could use further discussion and things :) Hmmm, anime fanfics...my most beloved anime is Sailor Moon. Like I'm legitimately obsessed. I have the anime, the manga, the musicals, the live action, the movies, and a plan to buy black and white cats to name Luna and Artemis when I move out one day lol :) Second, and not as obsessive over lol, is Cardcaptor Sakura. I actually love the couples in those shows so I can't see an OC popping out for that and I honestly don't think I could do SM justice lol :) As for the Master, he appears so briefly, compared to the Doctor, that an OC hasn't really jumped out at me for him. But I CAN say that a particular AU I have for Angel would involve the Master surviving the End of Time (and not in the sense of reappearing seasons later as Missy but literally there at the end of that episode) so we would see more of him in that AU...and I do have someone in mind to pair him with, NOT Angel though, no. Someone else ;)