Author's Note: Thank you so much to the reviewers from my previous chapter - Purplestan, PushToShove, I Run To The Beat Of Four, MountainLord-92, Aietradaea (x 2), and JanetheFantasyLover. You guys have no idea how appreciative I am that you are still prepared to read and review after I have been gone so long again. You lift my hearts! xxx
CHAPTER 40
"I get older and life fades, but you remain,
Open up again I believe in second chances,
Please let me in, oh I believe in second chances.
I won't break you,
I will not let you down,
Open up again, I believe in second chances."
- "Second Chances", Imagine Dragons
The wedding had gone without a hitch. Tejana wasn't sure why she was surprised. It was almost as if she was expecting something to go wrong, although if anyone had asked her, she couldn't have said exactly what.
Amy had been a lovely bride, dressed in swathes of swirling white silk, her bright hair draped in a mist-fine veil of chiffon. Rory, rather dapper himself in a grey morning suit, had looked proud enough to burst when her father had escorted her up the aisle of the church towards him. Amy's mother, Tabetha, resplendent in blue lace and wearing a rather large hat, had sat in the front row and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue throughout the ceremony. Afterwards, all the guests had happily gathered around the bridal couple, throwing rice and confetti for luck. Everyone had said how beautiful the wedding was, how perfect Amy and Rory were for each other, and how they were sure to have a long and happy life together.
Several hours later, Tejana found herself sitting at one of the tables in the reception hall, beside a long row of mullioned windows, looking out on to a small garden courtyard. Sipping a glass of water, her gaze wandered around the room, taking in the columns of bobbing red and white balloons, the garishly-lit dance floor, and the gaggle of small children in cute formal dress playing hide and seek among the lavishly-decorated tables, while the adults all chattered loudly to each other like a troupe of excited monkeys.
They were all waiting for the bride's father, Augustus Pond, to make his speech. Apparently, he was still putting the finishing touches on it, scribbling frantically away on a piece of paper, oblivious to the frustrated and impatient looks his wife was giving him.
Tejana sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. She felt weary, and oddly empty. As much as she cared for Amy and Rory, as happy as she was for them, she just couldn't seem to get into the party spirit. Human weddings were very different to those of her own people, she mused. Back in her day, Gallifreyan weddings had tended to be more private and much more sedate. Humans, on the other hand, always seemed to make any excuse to have a party. Usually, it was one of the things she loved most about them. But today, it all seemed too loud and much too brash. Perhaps it was simply because she was the last – the very last – of the Time Lords, and all these festivities made Gallifrey suddenly seem so far away and so long ago.
"Are you all right, Princess?"
Her eyes flickered open again, focusing on the handsome, hard-faced man who slouched in the chair opposite her, his long legs stretched out before him. One of his hands possessively gripped a half-empty bottle of high-grade whiskey, the other tilted a full glass to his lips, tossing the amber liquid down his throat like water.
Amy hadn't been overly impressed when Tejana had turned up to the wedding with Captain John Hart in tow as her "plus one", particularly since he'd insisted on wearing his bright red hussar's jacket rather than a more traditional tuxedo. She was even less impressed when Hart had started flirting with her mother, much to that lady's flustered confusion. But in the end, when Tejana had remained adamant, she'd been forced to give way, even if it was with ill grace.
To be honest, Tejana had no idea why she had insisted that Hart needed to stay. Or even why he was with her at all. It was like... she and the ex-Time Agent came in a package deal. Which was crazy, because she had always hated him, hadn't she? And yet now it seemed entirely right to be seated opposite him. She'd tried to reason it all out, but her memories seemed to slip away every time she came too close, like water drops sliding down a pane of glass. Instead of finding any answers, all she had ended up with was a giant headache.
"Something's wrong," she said abruptly. "Can't you feel it?"
He frowned briefly, and for a moment she hoped that his preternatural senses were picking up on it too. But then he simply took another slug from his glass of whiskey. "Wrong, how?"
"Time..." she murmured, looking uneasily around the hall, unable to shake the cold feeling that was creeping along her nerve-endings. "It feels like... Time's stitching herself into a new pattern, trying to join up a bunch of ragged edges that were never meant to be together."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Yes, you do." Her hand shot out and her small, slender fingers covered his larger ones, preventing him from raising the glass to his lips. "You're a Time Agent. You know it's what the universe does, whenever there's a hole torn where there shouldn't be. It compensates."
He shrugged. "Listen, Princess... you've been under a lot of strain lately. Working for Torchwood does that. You're jumping at shadows again. You need to relax a bit more, have some fun."
Unhappily, Tejana withdrew her hand, wrapping her fingers back around the stem of her own glass, twisting it around and around on the spot. Was that all this was, residual stress from her demanding role at Torchwood? Was she simply turning into an old grouch, sitting like someone's miserable old auntie in the corner and glowering at everyone?
"Besides," he continued. "This is meant to be a celebration. Your best buddy Red is getting married to the nerd of her dreams. Look..." He nodded towards the bridal table with a sardonic smirk. "She's crying for joy. Now ain't that just the sweetest thing?"
Glancing around sharply, Tejana saw that Hart was right. Despite all her wedding finery, despite the bright and happy chatter all around, there were tears running down Amy's cheeks. Beside her, Rory looked pale and anxious. Instead of calming her, the sight caused Tejana's unease to escalate even higher. The expression on Amy's face wasn't one of joy, it was one of deep, bewildered sadness.
They feel it too. Whatever it is, whatever has happening, it isn't just me, it's affected Amy and Rory as well.
"John, why are you here?" she demanded suddenly, whirling back around to face him again, clacking her water glass down on the table, her body inexplicably tight with tension.
He looked at her as if she'd unexpectedly gone mad. "Um... hello... you asked me to come. I'm your "plus-one", remember?"
"No, I mean, why are you here with me at all? Sitting here at a boring human wedding, for two people you couldn't give a toss about? Why aren't you out causing trouble somewhere in the Universe? Why aren't you starting an insurrection on the planet Moebilius, or stealing an Arcalian diamond, or selling Rift artefacts in the Maldovarium?"
For the first time, his eyes looked uncertain, as if it hadn't previously occurred to him to consider how unlikely the scenario was.
"We made a deal," he said at last, the hard planes of his face clearing, as if he'd found the solution to a particularly tricky puzzle. Of course they'd made a deal, that's what Captain John Hart was all about. Everything a transaction, each one bigger and better, and always in his favour. What other reason could there be?
"And what was it?" she insisted, refusing to let him off the hook. This was much too important. "What was the deal?"
"It was... we were going to..." His brow crinkled, as he made the effort to remember. A small tic danced in his jaw.
"It hurts, doesn't it? When you try to think about it, it hurts. So you stop thinking about it and just accept it, even though it doesn't make sense. I've been doing that all morning."
He shook his head, as though trying to clear it of cobwebs. Automatically, he poured another glass of whiskey and slammed it back, doing his utmost to drown the creeping doubts she had raised in his mind. "You're just over-thinking things. What's not to like here? Good food, unlimited grog, and a date with the most gorgeous woman on the planet." He raised the glass to her in an impudent and flirtatious salute, his eyes travelling appreciatively down the silvery, iridescent bridesmaid dress she was wearing. "I gotta say, that dress suits you, Princess. That amazing colour - it makes you look like a butterfly."
Tejana caught her breath sharply at his words, the sound of them echoing inside her head in a ringing slap. A butterfly. He'd said those words to her before, but he hadn't been flirting and it hadn't been a compliment.
"That's what you remind me of. A beautiful, shimmering butterfly...right before its lovely wings are torn off."
A shudder shook her slender body. Goosebumps crawling up her arms, she clutched at the edge of the table to steady herself. Outside the mullioned window, a movement caught her eye. A golden-haired woman dressed all in black was passing by. She was beautiful, comfortable in her own skin, her walk both confident and sensual, as if she knew she was exactly where she was supposed to be. A late wedding guest, perhaps? Tejana could think of no other reason anyone would be walking in the courtyard that bordered the reception hall. But then, as the other woman drew level with her, she glanced inside, a slight smile curving her red lips, and their eyes met.
In the background, Tejana could vaguely hear Hart calling her name, but she couldn't respond. There was a weird roaring sound in her ears. All she could see was the strange woman. Strange, and yet somehow not.
Her own voice whispered through her mind. Talking to someone. Talking to no-one. Is there something you haven't told me? Should I start calling her Mum?
"River!" she whispered, her head pounding. "No, no, no. This is all wrong. So very wrong."
Around her, everyone clapped, and vaguely she realised that Amy's father had at last gotten to his feet and was preparing to give his speech. Tejana gazed at the rotund little man, her hearts twisting.
Fathers and weddings, weddings and fathers...why did that thought hurt so very much?
Augustus Pond cleared his throat self-importantly, his thumbs tucked into his patterned waistcoast. "Ready now. Sorry about that. Last minute adjustments to certain aspects. It hardly seems a year since..."
Unexpectedly, like an explosion, Amy shot to her feet, startling everyone. Her face was white as snow and stained with tears. Her eyes were wild. "Shut up, Dad!"
Obviously embarrassed, Rory was pulling at her hand trying to make her sit down again, but she snatched it out of his grasp.
"Amelia?" Augustus could only stare at her, bewildered and appalled at the rude interruption.
"Sorry," she told him, her tone slightly more contrite. "I'm sorry, but shut up, please. There's someone missing. Someone so, so important."
Her eyes were flickering across the assembled guests, until they settled on Tejana and held, clung, almost as if the Time Lady the missing piece to a particularly difficult puzzle. Slowly, as if mesmerised, Tejana found herself also rising to her feet.
Before she could take a single breath, she heard the subtle, metallic snick of a blaster pistol being drawn, and without looking around, she knew Hart was watching her back, poised for trouble. Despite the copious amounts of whiskey he had consumed, he was perfectly alert and more than ready for a fight. His instant reaction told her that, despite his earlier nonchalant demeanour, he had been just as on edge as she had.
"Amy!" Rory whispered in alarm. "What's wrong? What's going on?"
But the red-headed girl wouldn't look at him. Instead, ignoring Rory and Hart - and indeed the entire room - she spoke directly to Tejana. "When I was a kid, I had an imaginary friend."
A murmur of concern rippled through the assembled guests. They had all heard this story before, in one form or another. Everyone knew Amelia had been a troubled child. But they had all assumed her problems were now safely in the past.
"Oh no, not this again!" her mother breathed, her distress evident. She had planned the perfect wedding for her daughter, and now it was all going up in smoke. "The psychiatrists we took her to!"
"The Raggedy Doctor," Amy continued. Her voice was rising in volume now, her soft Scottish burr escalating to a passionate shout. "My Raggedy Doctor! But he wasn't imaginary, he was real!"
"Doctor?" Tejana echoed in a stricken whisper. What was Amy trying to tell her? What was she missing? Who was she missing? And why was her memory full of holes large enough to pilot a Sontaran battle cruiser through? "Doctor..."
Fathers and weddings, weddings and fathers...
Her head felt like it was about to split open, her brain burning, as Time fought to hold her precarious stitches together, to keep the gaping wound closed long enough so that it would heal and become invisible. But Amy Pond wasn't going to allow that. She had firm hold of a fraying thread - a frail silvery thread that had been placed in her hand long ago when she was seven - and she had no intention of letting go.
"I remember you. I remember! I brought the others back, I can bring you home, too!" she shouted. "Raggedy man, I remember you, and you are LATE FOR MY WEDDING!"
All at once, the tables started shaking, all the glasses tinkling and rattling. Overhead, the chandeliers were swaying slightly, as if in a stiff breeze, and the tall columns of balloons danced merrily back and forth.
"Holy crap!" Hart muttered, tightening his grip on his weapon. "What now? A bloody earthquake?"
"I found you! I found you in stories, like you knew I would!" Amy continued jubilantly. "That's why you told me the story... the brand new, ancient blue box!"
Out of thin air, there came a noise, an unearthly wheezing, groaning sound, swirling around the room. People were panicking now, as the wind grew stronger, blowing napkins and streamers all over the place. Augustus Pond's speech was whipped up in one of the gusts and scattered across the dance floor, the pages lying limp and forlorn and forgotten. Even the wedding cake was vibrating. The tiny little plastic bride and groom on the very top were shaking so much, they looked like they were struggling to leap free.
"Oh, clever, very clever!"
"Amy, what is it?" Rory demanded.
Her veil was streaming behind her in the wind, but her lips were curved into a triumphant smile. "Something old!" she cried. "Something new! Something borrowed!"
"Something blue," Tejana finished in unison with her, tears suddenly streaking down her face. Because there it was, the missing piece to fill the gaping hole; that familiar flash of colour, that beautiful, beautiful blue, materialising right in front of her. The TARDIS. Her father. Her home.
"It's the Doctor!" Rory exclaimed. "How did we forget the Doctor?" Then, in an aside, to Amy's flabbergasted mother, "I was plastic. He was the stripper at my stag. Long story."
Leaping up on to the table top, smashing glasses and knocking plates to the floor as she went, Amy jumped down and ran to the tall blue box that now sat in the middle of the dance floor. Raising her hand, she rapped her knuckles smartly on the door.
"Okay, Doctor, did I surprise you this time?"
There was an infinitesimal pause, then the door creaked open, and a man dressed in a black long-tailed tuxedo popped out. He wore a white bow tie and there was a top hat perched jauntily on his floppy dark hair. "Er yeah, completely astonished, never expected that. How lucky that I just happened to be wearing this old thing." He gave a little twirl, so that everyone could get the full benefit of his sartorial elegance. "Hello, everyone, I'm Amy's imaginary friend, but I came anyway!"
"Looks like you were right, Princess," Hart commented in a low voice, as the buzz of excited conversation erupted all around them. "There was someone missing, after all. Your old man sure knows how to make an impressive entrance, I'll give him that much."
Tejana couldn't find the words to reply. It was all coming back to her now, in an overwhelming cascade of memories. Gallifrey, Theta, the cracks, the Pandorica. Saying goodbye, watching him pilot himself into the very heart of a cosmic explosion. No wonder her head had hurt so much – to smooth over such a huge rupture in her personal timeline would have been a colossal task, even for Time herself. There still seemed to be a lot of substantial holes in her memory, a lot of unaccountably blank spaces, but she supposed that after such a dramatic shake up, that was only to be expected. No doubt things would begin to settle down now the timelines had been restored.
"You absolutely, definitely, may kiss the bride!" Amy was saying, advancing towards the Doctor with her lips puckered, only to find his forefinger pressed against them.
"Amelia," he said, mock-sternly. "From now on, I shall be leaving the kissing duties to the brand new Mr Pond!"
"No, no," Rory interejcted. "I'm not Mr Pond, that's not how it works."
The Doctor merely grinned. "Yeah, it is."
Rory hesitated, then nodded sheepishly. "Yeah, it is."
Smiling, the Time Lord turned around and looked straight at his daughter, where she stood off to the side. The corners of his eyes crinkled and for just a moment, everything he felt was plain to see on his face, the pure joy and relief of a man who had lost something incredibly precious and, against all the odds, had found it again.
"Tejanakaturadilena, the original girl who waited," he murmured. Then he opened his arms as wide as he possibly could. "C'mere, you!"
And like a child, Tejana ran straight into them, allowing herself to be enfolded in a hug that was big enough to fill the entire world.
The wedding was slowly drawing to a close. It was past midnight and all the guests had gone home, down to the last reluctant straggler. Even the parents of the bride and groom had left. The band were playing a few, final slow numbers, before stowing their gear in readiness to depart; the catering staff were putting the chairs up on the tables and starting to sweep the floor. Amy and Rory were still in the middle of the dance floor, lost in their own romantic world, slowly swaying together. Leaning against the wall in the shadows, the Doctor watched them, a fond smile on his face.
"Two thousand years," he said to himself, seeing the absolute happiness on Rory's face as they kissed lovingly. "The Last Centurion. Good on you, mate!"
Then his attention drifted to another couple, the only other people now left in the room, sitting at a nearby table, softly bickering together.
Tejana had her elbows propped on the table, her chin in her hands, as she surveyed her companion with cool green eyes.
"You know what? You drink too much, Hart," she said critically.
Captain John Hart slouched down further in his chair, a parade of empty bottles lined up in front of him, like a row of soldiers.
"One thing you need to learn about Time Agents, Princess," he responded with a sleepy, contented grin. "We can never drink too much!"
The Doctor shook his head wryly. At least the TARDIS wasn't going to be quiet or boring, even with Amy and Rory gone – not with these two on board, anyway. Eager now to leave, wanting to slip away before the goodbyes got awkward, the Doctor was about to round them up and chivvy them towards the TARDIS, when a movement outside in the garden caught his eye. Peering out of the window, he thought he could see a slender, curvaceous figure walking down the tree-hung path close to where he had parked the time machine. The moonlight glinted on golden curls and he drew in a sharp, quivering breath.
"River!" he whispered.
Without hesitation, he shot towards the door and out into the night, hurrying down the path in a determined attempt to catch up with her. But when he reached the TARDIS, there was no-one to be seen. The breeze blew softly through the trees, stirring the leaves in the darkness, and he wondered if maybe he had been mistaken. Perhaps it had been a trick of the light, a product of his own wishful imagination, and she had never been there at all.
Then, someone spoke behind him, "Did you dance?" The voice was husky, lingering seductively over the syllables, as if she was asking something else entirely. "Well...you always dance at weddings, don't you?"
Slowly, he turned around, and there she was - River Song, dressed in an elegant black coat, her hair tumbling to her shoulders, her lips curved in an enticing, enigmatic smile. Immediately, without knowing why, he felt both his hearts begin to beat faster in anticipation.
"You tell me," he responded, refusing to allow himself to become flustered. After all, there was no way she could know the colloquial Gallifreyan meaning for the word 'dance', could she? No matter how...alluringly...she said the word, it didn't mean anything. It was just a coincidence.
But her smile merely grew sweeter, her eyes full of mystery. "Spoilers," she murmured.
Not knowing what to say to that, he pulled her blue journal out of his pocket, and handed it back to her. "The writing's all back. But I didn't peek."
"Thank you." She took it, her fingers stroking across his, soft and warm like silk.
The darkness seemed to wrap around them, drawing them intimately together. He swallowed hard, trying to ignore how good her touch felt, and also gave her back her vortex manipulator. She strapped it on to her wrist, her sultry eyes never leaving his.
"And Tejana?" she asked lightly. "Has she danced yet?"
"Tejana?" A frown crossed his face at the unexpected question, something prickling at the back of his brain, as if it was somehow very significant. Because, now that she mentioned it, he realised he hadn't seen his daughter dance once, the entire night, despite the fact that plenty of people had asked her. Not even with him. "No... no, she hasn't."
"Don't worry," River said. "She will."
The Doctor's bewilderment deepened. "What does that mean? Why will she dance? The wedding's over."
"More spoilers," she smiled, pressing a series of buttons on the manipulator. "But if I were you, I'd hurry inside, if you want to say goodbye to her."
"Goodbye? Why?"
She gave a teasing chuckle. "Oh, Doctor...you didn't think you're the only Time Lord Amy was going to remember today, did you?"
"River!" he exclaimed, but it was too late – she was already beginning to fade.
"I'll see you again soon, sweetie," she said, just before she disappeared completely. "At another wedding."
Not the only Time Lord...? What the hell? The Doctor's eyes widened as he looked back at the lighted windows of the building behind him. Suddenly, the light strains of music drifting across the lawn changed. The melody became profoundly deeper, richer...unearthly. A sound he hadn't heard for centuries and one he had certainly never expected to hear again.
The music of the Great Dance of Otherstide.
And with that recognition, he began to run.