"And here's the food," their hostess announces, serving the last of the platters and finally taking her seat at the table.

"Now this is what I call a banquet!" the Doctor cackles, rubbing his hands as he looks at the dishes in front of them.

Truth be told, Rory can't say he agrees. Some cucumber and olives, some kind of salad with what looks like cheese but no lettuce, bean soup with vegetables, some leaf-wrapped who-knows-what, sardines, skewers of goat meat, and white bread and wine to go with it all. There's variety, sure, but when he thinks about a 'banquet', there's usually a lot more meat involved, for starters.

Eusthatios' sister-in-law, a beautiful middle-aged woman with wavy brown hair and olive eyes, serves them bowls of the soup with a smile.

"Sly as the fox, Ulysses. If only I had had more warning of your arrival, I would have prepared a meal befitting of guests of your status," she answers with a mischievous smile as she hands the Doctor his bowl, and he grins sharply in answer.

"Nonsense! If you are not a Queen of Troy, neither am I a King of Ithaca, oh Beautiful Helene," he jokes again, just as he has been doing ever since they introduced themselves and their hostess revealed her name.

"Just ignore him. We're really grateful for dinner, Helene. And it smells amazing!" Amy tells the older woman with a grin, waving the Doctor's pout away like nothing.

"Indeed. Thank you very much," Rory adds with a smile, accepting his bowl and, after both the Doctor and Amy dig in, he does so too.

Well. The food might look simple, but it is tasty. The Greeks sure know how to use their spices.

"So, Helene, that son of yours…" the Doctor starts halfway through the meal, and the woman perks up with a smile.

"Antiphates? Did you see him at the Lady's home?" she asks hopefully, and the travelers shake their heads while Eusthatios huffs.

"The soldiers were at the cliffs when we arrived. I've told you, Helene, those boys spend most of their days at the cliffs with the Lady's daughter, keeping the monsters at bay," he explains not unkindly, and Helene's smile dims but doesn't vanish.

"So you have. But a mother can hope, Eusthatios," she whispers, smiling at the table, before refocusing on the present and looking up at the Doctor. "My apologies, Ulysses. What was it you wanted to ask?"

"Eusthatios told us your son, Antiphates, is twice the size of a man," he comments, and Rory grimaces even as Amy, sitting by his side, pushes her elbow into the Doctor's ribcage. "Ow! What was that for?"

"That's for being insensitive!" she hisses, and Helene's somber face lights up with a smile.

"I wasn't! Look, I was just wondering, the boy just had some impressive growth spurs, didn't he? Only, instead of stopping, he just kept growing, am I right?" he asks, keeping his hands up to stop Amy if she decides to poke him again, but looking at the two Greeks, who, surprised, merely nod. "I've seen it before. How old is he now?"

"Fifteen. He was always a big child, but these growth spurs only became obvious after he turned eleven," Helene answers, still surprised but smiling easily, and, finally lowering his hands, the Doctor grimaces.

And Rory straightens as he finally realizes what they're talking about.

"Gigantism?" he asks the Doctor instead, who just nods to confirm his suspicions. "If he's fifteen, there might still be something that can be done. I mean, if it's a tumor—"

"And how do you suggest we operate?" the Doctor asks with a pointedly lifted eyebrow, and Rory snaps his mouth shut when he realizes when they are. "This is not one of your patients, Rory."

"Patients? What are you talking about?" Helene asks, even more confused than before, while Eusthatios gives them a suspicious and dark look.

"I'm a, well, a physician, you could say. I thought…"

"There is nothing wrong with my son," Helene cuts when Rory goes silent, unsure whether to apologize or try to explain, and her voice is sharp and cutting like a blade. "He is merely young, not yet used to this gift of the Gods. He'll be remarkable, a hero for the ages. He will protect the island of Sicily against these sea monsters, and his name will be chanted for centuries to come."

"Or maybe not," the Doctor adds almost nonchalantly, hands laced together in front of his face and ignoring the burning glares both Helene and Eusthatios send his way. "The boy is clumsy, tiring easily, not used to his large body. So, why would Lady Lamia, who is assembling an army to fight off dangerous sea monsters, take someone so obviously not prepared for such a task? No matter what he's destined for, Helene, your son is not a soldier. So, why is he?"

The Greeks stay silent for a moment, before Helene deflates and Eusthatios rests his remaining hand on her shoulder.

"I told you, Helene. Antiphates is not a soldier. He will never be."

"But he wanted to. He wanted to help the polis, to help the family… And you are always telling him he will never amount to anything!" she shouts, glaring at her brother-in-law, who, wisely, pulls away from her. "What was he to do when the Lady offered him such a chance? He's a poet, Eusthatios, not a warrior! But does that matter to you?"

"Poetry won't put food on the table now that Philantros is gone!"

"And with just one arm, what good are you?" Helene hisses, and Eusthatios jerks back as if slapped, while Amy and Rory can't help but stare at the train wreck that this conversation has become, unsure of how, or even if, they could intervene. "This is what it is all about, isn't it? You feel useless now, and so you think channeling your frustrations into my son will make it better. You think forcing him to become his father, or to become you, is going to fix everything now that you can't fix it yourself! Well, it won't! Pushing Antiphates to work harder in the fields or to become a soldier won't bring your arm or your brother back! If I can accept my husband is gone, why can't you?"

Silence falls over the table, awkward and tense, until Eusthatios pushes himself to his feet with a snarl.

"I think tomorrow would be better," the Doctor lets out before Eusthatios can do more than open his mouth, reaching for a leaf-wrapped thing and completely unbothered by all the eyes suddenly on him. "The donkeys will need some rest, and there's still some more investigating we can do around here. You said something about the fishermen being attacked in the beginning?"

"What are you talking about now?" Amy asks, frowning in confusion, and Rory can't help but feel grateful that he's not the only one completely lost.

"Antiphates is a big boy who has no potential whatsoever for war. The Lady's house is built on burnt land – did you see how tall the grass was on her property? – because that's where the monsters came from, but it's surrounded by sheep. What kind of animal would graze peacefully next to a monster's nest?" he asks with a growing sharp grin, biting into his snack and waiting until he's swallowed his mouthful to continue. "So, the Lady is hiding something."

"You told her to be careful of snakes," Amy remembers, grinning when the Doctor nods. "This isn't the first time you've seen the designs on her house, is it?"

"No, it isn't. I travelled to a kingdom of sea and sand years ago, where people worshipped the sun and the snakes, those of the sand and of the water. And their ships were covered by those same designs, runes of protection for their travels," he explains simply before popping the last of his leaf-wrap snack into his mouth.

"You mean the Lady is an alien?" Rory asks in disbelief, practically leaning over the table, and almost slaps himself when he hears Eusthatios snort.

Wrong time period, wrong time period!

"Obviously. And so are you," Eusthatios retorts with a scowl, while Helene gives them a confused look.

"Please, excuse Amy's manservant. He hasn't been traveling long enough to lose the habit of calling everyone not of his land an alien," the Doctor deadpans, but the look he gives Rory is full of mockery.

"Er, yes. That," Rory says instead of the curse he would rather direct at the Doctor, because it's as good a save as he's going to get, and just because it makes him look like an idiot it doesn't mean it's not what he needed. "And did you seriously call me Amy's manservant? That makes me sound like I'm her property," he hisses at the Doctor nonetheless, because it's one thing to be made the fool and another to be made a servant, no matter how large Amy's smile is behind the hand covering her lower face.

"Aren't you? You have a ring to prove it, don't you?" the Doctor retorts and, before Rory can retaliate, he stands up and stretches. "Now, enough chin-wagging. I want to talk to those fishermen about these monsters of yours. The more we know about them, the easier it'll be to figure out what Lamia is up to."

"I'm coming with you," Helene says before they can do more than stand up, surprising them all. "You're saying my son has been recruited for a false cause, aren't you? So, I'm coming with you. I may be a woman, but that will not stop me from keeping my child safe."

"Helene, what madness is this? The Lady has been protecting us! And her visions—"

"Her visions have certainly been true, Eusthatios, but that may not mean her intentions are as pure. If there is even the slightest chance that my son may be in danger under her tutelage, I will do everything in my power to get him back," Helene answers, straightening and glaring down at her incredulous brother-in-law. "Philantros would have done the same, as a father and as a soldier. What will you do?"

For a moment, Eusthatios just stands there, stunned, before he finally composes himself enough to scowl.

"And what makes you think she won't have foreseen this?" he asks moodily, but the way Helene smiles lets them know he has finally submitted.

"What makes you think I care?"

The only answer to those words is Amy's and the Doctor's sharp smirks.

They help Helene put the leftovers away and clean the dishes, but in no time at all, they are at the docks, talking with the fishermen there, who are fixing their nets alongside their wives.

"You came past the monsters?" one of them asks, scratching his curly graying beard and glaring up at them. "And now you're asking after them?"

"Whatever bout of good fortune led us here might not see us leave safely. We'd rather be prepared," the Doctor answers with his politician smile, but the fisherman and his buddies seem more interested in arguing about the likelihood of the monsters letting anyone through, and what that means for their nets.

And the Doctor just stands there and listens.

Rory is dumbfounded at the patience the alien exhibits, at the intensity in his gaze, taking every single detail in. He hardly looks like the semi-crazed Doctor who, cackling in glee, had coded a virus to turn all clocks to 0:00 hours on a mobile phone, or the terrifying being who had turned an alien's brain to mush, or the composed one who had stood up to the Atraxi and scared them away with three simple questions.

He's not sure what this Doctor reminds him of, or why it freaks him out so much, but he's sure Amy has an idea, judging by the way she analyzes the Doctor, as critically as Rory himself would any of his patients.

Which is why Rory carefully grabs her arm to get her attention, and gestures to a spot further down the pier, away from the Doctor and the fishermen and their two hosts.

Once they're sitting down at the end of the planks, feet hanging over the water, Rory finally turns to Amy.

And stares.

There are so many questions in his head right now that he has no idea which one to ask first.

Fortunately, Amy always knows how to get him on track.

"Come on, Rory, stop gawking and just say whatever's on your mind. Is it 'I told you so'? Or 'this is going nowhere'? Or 'what are we doing here'?"

"What are we doing here?" he repeats, glad for the opening, and, as if by the pull of a string, all the pieces finally click in place. "I mean, he said this was supposed to be our wedding gift, only he miscalculated and we didn't land in Rome. I get that. And I get it's his job to investigate the monsters, but what are we doing here?" he elaborates, gesturing between the two of them, and Amy huffs with a smile and an eyeroll.

"Because he'd be lost without us. I'm serious, never leave him alone," she answers, her smile fading as if it had never been there. "He doesn't really need us, not most of the time, but he needs something to focus on. Someone to focus on, to remind him that he can do things differently."

"Differently how?" Rory asks cautiously, feeling unease pool at the bottom of his stomach even before Amy's expression drops.

"In ways that don't involve… well. Anyone dying, in short," she explains with a shrug, but Rory reaches for her shoulder, resting a hand on her skin to find it cold despite the sun overhead. "He likes to collect all the information, even if he knows what is going on, so that he can figure out the best way to deal with things. Only, he doesn't really know which is the best way," she adds softly before sighing and looking up, meeting Rory's eyes with a slightly lost expression. "Do you remember last Christmas?"

"With his face being everywhere and the huge red planet that appeared out of nowhere?" he asks, barely stopping himself from adding something like no, I can't say I remember that, there was nothing memorable about that, because Amy doesn't need it now and, if he wants some answers to shut up the part of his brain that is freaking out, Rory doesn't need that either.

"Yeah, that one. Never mention that, by the way, not to his face. But the thing is… Okay, we need a bit of a backstory for this," she huffs, shrugging off Rory's hand so she can turn around to face him fully, crossing one leg in front of her while the other hangs over the pier, and Rory tries to mimic her stance. "All of those other Doctors we found while researching him, and all of those holes in history that could have been a Doctor, those were actually him. Apparently, when a Time Lord is hurt badly enough, he can just change his face, his whole self, and keep on living."

"Like a phoenix? Born from its ashes and all that?" Rory asks, gawking a bit, but Amy's nod is solemn.

"Yes, like that. Kind of, I just know the general facts. But the thing is, he does. The Doctor keeps on living with a different face, whole and healthy once more. He can't really choose the face, but he's still the Doctor. Or, at least, all of them were before the Raggedy Man."

"Wait, just a second," Rory interrupts before she can get to her point, because, if he doesn't ask this now, he'll probably never will, and he needs to ask it. "Does that mean he wasn't Harold Saxon?"

Amy hesitates.

"I'm not sure about that one," she finally answers, glaring at the water before looking up at Rory with a frustrated scowl. "He doesn't talk about the past, and the few times he has it's because he was too hurt to really check his words, and it's confusing. Sometimes he acts like he was Saxon, but then he says things like Saxon died and I won."

"So… he wasn't?"

"… I don't think so," Amy finally says, slowly, enunciating every word, as she crosses her arms against her chest. "He said he didn't choose his face, and how he hadn't wanted to look like that. And he was the Doctor, he defeated Saxon with this Time Lord trick of his – extremely freaky, he can turn hopes into reality – and he won and Saxon died. He's obviously not dead, so…" she explains with a shrug, still pouting and not too sure, but Rory's head is reeling once more.

"He can do what?"

Amy startles, looking at him in confusion, before she registers her own words and gives him a gorgeous smile.

"You should see your face. But yes, he turns 'faith and hope and prayer' into reality. Apparently, it's easier using the Archangel Network, but he just, I don't know, channels all that hope into a different timeline to make the world change around us. With Saxon, he said the Doctor became a vengeful Archangel, whatever that means. But the one time I've seen him do it, it was to bring us to the top of a crashed spaceship. We were cornered by Weeping Angels, and he could make the jump and bring some of us to the ship with him, but the others would be killed. So, instead, he told us to trust him and used that trust to bring together different timelines when he pulled different people up, so that they happened all at once and we all just appeared atop the spaceship. It was really confusing," she explains, and Rory can only nod dumbly because it sounds really confusing and he's not sure he actually understands what happened.

Which is why, a moment later, he shakes his head.

"No, I don't get it. At all," he tells Amy, who snorts with an eyeroll, before pushing that issue aside to focus on the present. "What you're saying is that he's way older, and far more terrifying, than we thought before. So, my question is, why are we here with this psycho? What can we do that he can't?"

"We care. And we can say 'no'."

Rory is silent after that, staring into Amy's eyes in search for something that will make her words clearer, but finds only determination and sadness.

We care. But the Raggedy Doctor cares too. When Prisoner Zero had stolen Amy's form, Rory remembers his fear as he checked her vitals, but also the Doctor's eyes, full of dread and denial and loss, and the dark anger that overtook them before he turned to Prisoner Zero.

"Poor Amy Pond. Still such a child inside. Dreaming of the magic Doctor she knows will return to save her. What a disappointment you've been."

"I know. And that's why I won't fail again. I'm not losing anyone again, ever again. Release her."

The Raggedy Doctor cares.

"One more question then. I'm sure you know you aren't the first aliens to come here with your over-the-top threats and 'thou shalt obey mine demands' and all of your 'mightier than thou' spiel. I mean, you are monitoring all communications, have access to every single database on Earth, so you must be aware of that fact. So, here's my last question. What happened to them?"

He cares so fiercely, so much, that he's willing to destroy an alien's brain or do something so horrible that a whole army runs away at the slightest sign of the Doctor's displeasure.

And we can say 'no'. That one, Rory has to think twice as hard to decipher, but soon enough realizes he may have an idea of what it is about. Because, when berating the Atraxi for their threatening to burn down Earth, the Doctor had said that Earth was important because of the people living in it, but also because of the timelines 'riding on the integrity of the planet', and their ties to something as alien as the Atraxi.

So, maybe his 'job' as a 'monster hunter' is more than a joke.

He could've captured Prisoner Zero to save his own skin, because he was on Earth at the time and would've been incinerated alongside everyone else, but the Doctor hadn't done just that. He'd called the Atraxi back and chased them away from Earth for good, put the fear of God—of the Doctor, actually—in their bodies, and made sure Earth was safe from at least one alien race for the rest of their lives. He didn't have to do that, but he'd done it.

And now, he's talking to some Greek fishermen about sea monsters, listening attentively for any clues as to how to solve the problem, when it would've been as simple as to go back to the TARDIS when they realized they weren't in the right time period and simply leave.

Sure, Rory wouldn't have been able to, even if he has no clue about fighting sea monsters, because he's a nurse. He cares about people, it's in his job description, and it's the reason he chose this job to begin with. Amy wouldn't have just left either, because that's who Amy is, caring and strong and willing to fight the monsters to keep people safe.

And, apparently, that's who the Doctor is too. Someone who fights the monsters because it's his job, and someone whose job is to fight the monsters because he chose it.

And yet…

"What do you mean?" Rory asks, and Amy looks away for a moment before meeting his eyes again.

"He's the last of the Time Lords. They kept time safe, the past and the future and all that, and that means getting rid of anyone who would try to unbalance it. Apparently, history can change without problem, but if it changes too much, they need to stop it. Like, he said it doesn't matter who won World War II, but if there were aliens in the mix, he needed to stop it. Or it doesn't matter if almost the whole of the UK dies in the twenty-ninth century, as long as some specific people live on. But anything else, he has to stop it, even if he doesn't want to. He's the last of his people. He doesn't want to go around fixing our mistakes, but he can't not do it," she explains sadly, holding tight to Rory's hands when he grabs onto hers, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "There was a war, between the Time Lords and this race of alien-robot things called the Daleks, and both of them were supposed to have been destroyed. But they weren't. We went to London in 1941, and the Daleks were there and he just… He snapped. He wanted to destroy them, to avenge his people and protect the universe – the Daleks could destroy planes with just one shot, it was horrible – but the moment the Daleks threatened the Earth he just… He had to stop. He had to come back to defuse the bomb and the Daleks escaped. He had to. Even after getting shot twice, and with one of his two hearts stopped and a lot of internal damage and his hand so… He still had to come back to Earth," she explains softly, looking down, and Rory swallows the lump of dread blocking his throat, finally realizing where those scars he noticed before had come from. "He just wants the pain to stop. He tried to save his planet but it was destroyed. He tried to save his people, but he ended up with his best friend dying in his arms. He blames himself so much for it, Rory. He keeps saying he destroyed his planet and killed his people, and that he hurts everyone he ever comes in contact with. Like this girl, Martha, who got stuck with another of his faces in 1969," Amy whispers, taking in a deep breath before she can look up again. "I think that, whatever happened last Christmas, it was so horrible that he convinced himself he wasn't worthy of being called the Doctor anymore. The Doctor is the man who makes people better, and he didn't do the things the Raggedy Doctor did. Whatever happened last Christmas…"

"Whatever happened, he blames himself for it. If he called himself the Doctor, made people better, then maybe…" Rory starts, hesitating, but a squeeze of Amy's hands around his and her expectant gaze convince him to finish that thought. "Maybe that red planet didn't vanish. Maybe it was destroyed," he finishes with a whisper, and Amy's eyes go almost impossibly wide. "To protect Earth, maybe even the whole universe, he had to kill a whole planet, or let them die."

"You mean he was serious? About destroying his own planet, his own people?" Amy asks in a whisper, and Rory's brain goes blank.

"Well, I mean, I don't know? I just… I'm a nurse. I'd feel like I don't deserve to be one if I killed even a single person, even if it was to save another," he babbles, though he grows somber as the words and their implications dawn. "I don't know what I would do if it was a whole planet," he whispers, and looks up again to meet Amy's eyes with an unvoiced question caught in his throat.

Rory would never kill anyone; it just isn't in him. But to keep his parents safe, to keep Amy safe… Well, he might be very close to doing something stupid, to keep them safe and sound. But he still can't grasp what would bring him to do something as horrible as destroying Earth, or letting it be destroyed, even if… even if it would save Amy. Could he let a whole planet die just for her? And could he let a whole planet die including Amy, to save the rest of the universe?

… If the universe goes, so does Amy. But would it be a universe worth living in without Amy?

"What thoughts ail you?" Helene asks as she approaches them, a small sad smile on her lips, and both Amy and Rory startle, not having noticed her. "You seem to be considering the fate of the world rather than some sea monsters besieging a single polis. Surely there are far bigger issues for people such as yourselves, who have traveled far and wide, to concern yourselves with, rather than the fate of such a small settlement barely two years old."

"Don't say that!" Amy protests, climbing to her feet with Rory following almost immediately after. "Everyone is important, no matter how small the town or few the people. The Doctor will fix things, he'll defeat the monsters and figure out what is going on with Lamia. Trust him," she adds with determination fueling every single word, firm and unbending, and Rory can't help but admire her from a moment, with her red hair swaying in the breeze and the fire in her eyes and the ocean in the background.

God, she is just so amazing…

"Doctor?" Helene repeats, turning to Rory, who smiles sheepishly before pointing at where the Raggedy Doctor seems to be arguing with Eusthatios.

"I may be a nu—physician, but he is the Doctor. He just doesn't go by that," he answers simply, hoping she doesn't ask, but after a moment to look over her shoulder, Helene's smile turns sad and understanding.

"A doctor turned soldier. No, he certainly would not take that name. The Oath is a promise to care for the patient, and to not deliver death even if it is asked. One of my brothers took such an Oath when he became a doctor, and he has told us many times of the struggle it is to see someone beyond help and be unable to stop their suffering. He says it is a reason to push himself to be better, to find more cures so that no one needs to feel as if they have no choice but death. For a doctor to become a soldier, they may very well lose their name instead."

Amy and Rory exchange a wide-eyed look of realization before turning to Helene, waiting patiently for them to put their thoughts in order, with hesitation.

"Why would you think he's a soldier?" Rory asks after a moment, while Amy looks away with a sigh.

"It is obvious, isn't it?" Helene asks simply, turning to Amy, who hesitates for a moment before nodding with a sheepish smile.

"You should see him in armor."

"I am sure he cuts quite the figure. And with his hair, why, he might very well be a demigod! Although, I would have thought a demigod would be taller," Helene muses, and Rory chokes on his breath, caught between laughing and trying to vehemently deny anything that might suggest the Doctor is not human.

Amy has no such compulsions, though, laughing freely.

"Oh, you have no idea how right you are. But don't tell him that, his ego is big enough as it is."

The two women laugh once more, and, tension diffused, Rory decides to just sigh and let them talk about their things, joining the Doctor and Eusthatios to see what they've found out, and hoping his blush will disappear if he wills it to do so hard enough.

"Do I want to know?" the Doctor asks as soon as Rory is by their side, glancing at the two women following him with mischievous smirks on their faces, Helene far more composed than Amy, and Rory just shakes his head. "Right. Anyway, we got enough information, so we might as well go back to the house, get some sleep, and visit the Lady in the morning," he adds with a grin, clapping his hands, and earning a glare from Eusthatios.

"So sure of yourself, aren't you, little man?" Eusthatios huffs, but doesn't say anything about the Doctor's declaration about them staying at his house, starting the walk back instead. "Monster hunter you may be called, but never before have I seen anyone as lost as yourself and your entourage."

Amy and Rory protest almost in unison, but the Doctor is beaming away like a child.

"It's nice to be recognized, isn't it?" he asks them with a shit-eating grin, mischief in his eyes.

"We're not his entourage!" Rory protests, torn between offended and long-suffering, while Amy returns the Doctor's grin.

"We're his babysitters. Aren't we, little man?"

"Oi! Since when do we do the short people jokes?"

"Since you start to tell people we're your 'entourage'."

"I didn't say that!"

"You said nothing against it!"

"Is it always like this?" Helene asks Rory softly with a grin on her face, watching in amusement as Amy and the Doctor argue, though their eyes are alight with laughter.

"I'm starting to think so," Rory answers with a sigh, rubbing his eyes and dropping his shoulders as he feels the excitement of the day finally catch up with him.

He can only hope tomorrow's 'confrontation' will be far less exciting than the hunt for Prisoner Zero two years ago…

But as he watches Amy engulf the Doctor in a hug despite his protests, grinning widely, Rory realizes that it doesn't matter how messy tomorrow ends up as. If they are together, it'll be okay in the end.