Warnings: Language. Angst. Fluff. Sexual Content.
The Dread of Tomorrow and Yesterday
Chapter 81
Day of the Moon: Magnificent Desolation
Canton arrived in the upstairs hallway after hearing Amy's desperate plea for help.
"Help me! Please, I can't, I can't see! Somebody help me!" Amy sobbed from inside a room.
Canton tried to break down the door with his body weight.
"Amy!" he shouted, pounding on the door with his fists. "Amy, can you hear me? Amy, I'm going to try to blow the lock. I need you to stand back," he called out, warningly.
Just as Canton raised his gun, the Doctor, Rhea, Rory and River stormed in.
"OK, gun down, I've got it!" The Doctor pushed at Canton's wrist, before turning to the door. "Amy, we're here. Are you okay?" He flashed the sonic screwdriver at the lock.
"I can't see!" Amy cried out.
The Doctor unlocked the door and they all rushed inside.
All five rushed into the room, only to find it empty, but for spacesuit lying on the floor.
"Where the hell is she?" Rhea said, annoyed, looking around the room carefully.
The Doctor scanned the spacesuit with his sonic screwdriver and River slid open the visor.
"It's empty," River commented.
"It's dark, it's so dark. I don't know where I am. Please, can anybody hear me?" Amy's voice whimpered, almost distorted.
Rhea looked down to where the voice was coming from, to find the nanorecorder that had been embedded into Amy's palm blinking red on the floor. Rory picked it, solemnly.
"They took this out of her? How did they do that, Doctor?" Rory looked at the Doctor, desperately. Amy's sobs came over the recorder and Rory flinched, the sound eating at him. "Why can I still hear her?" he asked, desolately.
"Is it a recording?" River asked, worriedly.
The Doctor scanned the recorder quickly. "It defaults to live," he explained, soberly. "This is current. Wherever she is right now, this is what she's saying."
Rory swallowed hard, a brief second of horror on his face before settling in determination. He raised the recorder.
"Amy, can you hear me? We're coming for you. Wherever you are, we're coming, I swear."
The Doctor pursed his lips. "She can't hear you. I'm so sorry. It's one way," he said, gently.
Rory scowled. "She can always hear me, Doctor," he retorted. "Always, wherever she is. She always knows that I am coming for her, do you understand me? Always."
"Doctor, are you out there? Can you hear me? Doctor? Oh, God. Please, please, Doctor, just get me out of this," Amy sobbed.
Rory's face wavered at Amy's blatant plea for the Doctor. He swallowed hard and the resolution in his eyes only made Rhea's respect for him grow.
"He's coming. I'll bring him, I swear," he said, fiercely.
There was a knock on the door
"Hello, is someone in there? Who? I think someone has been shot. I think we should help. We... I can't... I can't remember," Renfrew said, panic-stricken.
He led them back to his office, where the alien lay on the floor, who backed away as the Doctor knelt and reached out.
"Okay. Who and what are you?" the Doctor asked, curtly.
"Silence, Doctor." It clutched a hand – or claw, Rhea supposed – to its wound. "We are the Silence."
Rhea frowned. Now, where had she had heard that name before?
Prisoner Zero.
The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall.
"And silence will fall," the Silence on the floor echoed, wrenching Rhea out of her musing.
The Doctor, Rhea and River were examining the spacesuit while a small black-and-white TV played the news in the background.
"The target for the Apollo 11 astronauts, the moon, at lift off, will be at a distance of 218,096 miles away. We're just past the two-minute mark on the countdown. T minus one minute 54 seconds and counting..."
River sighed. "It's an exo-skeleton. Basically, life support. There's about twenty different kinds of alien tech in here," she explained.
"The question is: who was she? And why put her in that?" Rhea asked, disgust in an undertone as she narrowed her eyes at the spacesuit.
"Put this on, you don't even need to eat. The suit processes sunlight directly. It's got built in weaponry and a communications system that can hack into anything," River mused.
The Doctor frowned. "Including the telephone network?" he asked, curiously.
River stared him dead-on. "Easily."
"But why phone the President?" Rhea said, pointedly.
River shrugged. "It defaults to the highest authority it can find. The little girl gets frightened, the most powerful man on Earth gets a phone call. The night terrors with a hotline to the White House."
Rhea looked up and groaned when she saw the Doctor sniffed at her blue envelope and then actually licked it.
"Okay, first of all, could you at least try and act like less of a lunatic?" Rhea said, dryly. "And second of all, you won't learn anything from that envelope." She insisted.
She wasn't willing to give a further thought to that envelope and whatever injustice it had invoked. Her stomach still twisted in horror at the thought of him being dead.
After seeing it once, after living it once, she didn't think she'd ever be able to scratch out that scene from her eyes.
"Purchased on Earth, perfectly ordinary stationery, TARDIS blue. Summoned by a stranger who won't even show his face. That's a first for me. How about you?" he demanded.
Rhea rolled her eyes. "A few times, which I'm sure you know. What about it?"
"Did you buy it?" the Doctor asked, curiously – it seemed like the most likely explanation.
"Nope," Rhea said, lightly, turning her attention back to the spacesuit (because, technically, it wasn't a lie, seeing as she wouldn't exactly know at this point in time if she had bought it or not – see, sneaky like).
"Are you lying?"
"If you ask me that question one more time-" she let her threat hang in the air.
The Doctor shifted on his feet and turned suspicious eyes onto River, who remained quiet while he and Rhea had their little exchange. He didn't trust the woman as far as he could throw her and, despite Rhea's many efforts to encourage him to be welcoming, he doubted that would change in the near future. Of course, a more well-adjusted and reasonable person would acknowledge that much of his mistrust came from his somewhat unreasonable jealousy of whatever relationship Rhea and River Song may or may not have in the future or present, depending on which Rhea was with him at that moment. River looked at Rhea, well, much like the way the Doctor looked at Rhea, which in his defence was nothing to be ecstatic over.
"And you?" he offered.
"Our lives are back to front. Your future's my past, your firsts are my lasts," River said, ambiguously.
The Doctor snorted. "Not really what I asked."
"Ask something else then," River retorted.
"What are the Silence doing? Raising a child?" the Doctor asked, sceptically.
"Keeping her safe. Even giving her independence," River mused.
"Or making a weapon," Rhea said, pointedly. The Doctor and River looked at her to clarify further. "It's easier to effectively condition children into specific mindsets, especially if they begin at a younger age. Adults tend to have more baggage that resists indoctrination."
"They're making a weapon… for what purpose?" the Doctor said, thoughtfully.
Rhea grimaced. She had a pretty good idea what that purpose was.
The sound of that bullet hitting the Doctor – not once, but twice – and her not being able to a damn thing was enough for her to definitively say that she had no intention of allowing that sight to come to pass. Yes, she may have already seen it, and yes, that meant she'd effectively be changing her own past, but what was a little tearing in the space-time continuum against whatever solid, sweet thing that existed between her and the Doctor?
She wasn't one to follow the rules and like hell if she wouldn't burn the world to the ground for someone she felt a very deep affection for (because another word that may be more appropriate in these circumstances also asked something else of her that was beyond violence and she wasn't ready to fall down that hole just yet).
The Doctor approached a troubled Rory.
"The only way to save Amy is to work out what the Silence are doing," he said, encouragingly.
"I know," Rory admitted, reluctantly.
And Rhea felt that, she really did, because what did it matter what the Silence were planning now if it meant that the woman he loved could be hurting right now? It was all well and good to claim 'for the greater good' but when it came down to family and love and all those other stupid, uncompromising feelings that transcended altruism, could anyone really make the choice that put the world above that one person in your life who made everything better?
"Every single thing we learn about them brings us a step closer," the Doctor insisted.
The Doctor, perhaps, apparently.
Was that supposed to sting?
It did.
"Yeah, Doctor, I get it, I know," Rory said, sternly.
"Of course, it's possible she's not just any little girl," the Doctor contemplated.
"Well, she's probably human, if there's life support software," Rhea concluded. "She definitely looked human, although that's not really much of an indicator."
The Doctor sighed. "I'm sensing a 'but'."
Rhea fiddled with one of the tears in the stomach of the suit. "She climbed out of this suit," she said, pointedly. "Not just climb, actually, she forced her way out. She must be incredibly strong." She mused. "Or at the very least, under an adrenaline rush."
"Incredibly strong and running away. I like her," the Doctor murmured.
The way he looked at her then told Rhea that he meant something more, that there was some comparison in his words that she didn't want to linger too closely on.
"We should be trying to find her," River stressed.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know, but how?" He shook his head. "Anyway, I have the strangest feeling she's going to find us."
"This is Houston, do you read? Over."
Rory frowned. "Why does it look like a NASA space suit?"
The Doctor strode over to the television. "Because that's what the Silence do. Think about it. They don't make anything themselves. They don't have to. They get other life forms to do it for them."
River scoffed. "So, they're parasites then?" she said, derisively.
"Super parasites. Standing in the shadows of human history since the very beginning. We know they can influence human behaviour any way they want. If they've been doing that on a global scale for thousands of years..." he trailed off.
Rory narrowed his eyes. "Then what?"
"Then why did the human race suddenly decide to go to the moon?" the Doctor said, intentionally.
"Ten, nine, ignition sequence start, six, five, four..."
"Because the Silence needed a space suit."
"... one, zero, all engines on. Lift off. We have a lift off. 32 minutes past the hour, lift off on Apollo 11."
Dr Shepherd examined the Silence. "My God! What is it?" he breathed.
Canton's eyes shuttered. "It's just an alien, Dr Shepherd."
"Someone's already been treating it," Shepherd accused.
Canton rolled his eyes. "Yeah. You've been treating it."
Shepherd scowled and rounded on the ex-FBI agent. "Does Colonel Jefferson know this thing is here?" he asked, scandalised.
Canton shrugged. "No."
Shepherd squared his shoulders. "Then I'm going to tell him right now!" he said, firmly, jumping to his feet and looking away from the Silence.
Canton groaned. "Again?" he muttered.
Shepherd blinked. "Sorry, what?"
"Exactly."
"Sergeant, why was I called in here for no reason?" Shepherd asked, sharply, rushing out of the cell without a second glance.
"You tend to my wounds. You are foolish," the Silence growled.
Canton brandished Amy's phone, using the camera to record the conversation.
"Why? What would you do in my place?" Canton asked, pointedly.
"We have ruled your lives since your lives began. You should kill us all on sight, but you will never remember we were even here. Your will is ours."
"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but thanks, it's exactly what I needed to hear," Canton said, triumphantly. "This is a video phone," He paused. "Whatever a video phone is."
Canton ended the recording and immediately sent the file to the Doctor.
The Doctor opened the video on River's handheld scanner.
"You should kill us all on sight."
Rory stood off to the side, his attention focused on the sounds of Amy's sobs echoing from the nano-recorder. River scanned the spacesuit and the glove twitched.
"This suit, it seems to be repairing itself. How is it doing that?"
Rory sat on the floor, his back against a packing crate.
"Doctor," Rhea began, a thought occurring to her. "This thing, this spacesuit, could it be able to move without someone inside it?" she asked, curiously.
"Why do you ask?" the Doctor said, bemused.
"Well, the little girl said the space man was coming to eat her," Rhea said, pointedly. "Maybe that's exactly what happened."
She grimaced – dead children were not something she liked to think about at all.
Amy began to speak actually words and Rory lifted his head, drawn out of whatever haze Amy's torment had invoked. The Doctor and Rhea could also hear from their vantage point but thought it best to leave Rory be.
"I love you. I know you think it's him. I know you think it ought to be him. But it's not, it's you. And when I see you again, I'm going tell you properly, just to see your stupid face. My life was so boring before you just dropped out of the sky."Rory hung his head. "So just get your stupid face where I can see it. Okay? Okay?"
Rhea sighed and made for Rory – honestly, she wasn't very good at the comforting routine and she didn't know why it was her going to console Rory, but she supposed anyone beat the Doctor.
She sat beside Rory on the floor, crossing her legs.
"She'll be fine," Rhea said, lowly. "She's just leverage; they won't kill her. There'd be no advantage in that."
Rory looked at her, bleakly, and she was suddenly struck by how much Rory loved that red-head girl he grew up with in Leadworth. It was honestly inspiring.
"Can't you save her?" he pleaded, unashamedly.
Rhea cleared her throat. "The Doctor says he can track the signal back, which will take us right to her."
"Then why hasn't he done it yet?" Rory snapped.
"Because then what?" Rhea asked, pointedly. "We find her, we rescue her, and then what do we do?" She paused. "This isn't an alien invasion, Rory. They live here. This is their empire," Her face twisted in disdain. "We have to be smart about this. This is… kicking the Romans out of Rome."
"Rome fell," Rory said, tonelessly.
Rhea pursed her lips. "I know."
"Rhea," the Doctor called out. "Do you… uh, do you mind helping River with the file transfer?"
Rhea narrowed her eyes. "This is just like with Jack in Malcassairo, isn't it?"
"Good," the Doctor grinned. "You remember, now go away."
"Jerk," Rhea muttered, storming off.
"Something tells me you'll be paying for that one later," Rory said, thoughtfully.
The Doctor chuckled. "Do you know what the problem is with being in love with a woman who hurtles around your timeline endlessly, Rory?" His lips twitched. "I'm always paying for something." He paused. "Personal question."
Rory snorted. "Seriously? You?"
"Do you ever remember it? Two-thousand years, waiting for Amy? The Last Centurion?" the Doctor asked, curiously.
Rory shook his head. "No."
The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "Are you lying?" His voice was threaded with suspicion.
Rory scoffed. "Course I'm lying."
"Course you are. Not the sort of thing anyone forgets."
Rory hesitated. "But I don't remember it all the time. It's like there's… a door in my head. I can keep it shut," he said, firmly.
"Please come and get me. Come and get me," Amy sobbed.
The Doctor jumped to his feet, listening to the sound of Amy's cries.
Amy's eyes slowly drifted open, a bright shining in her eyes. As she awakened, she realised she was strapped down to a surgical table tilted upright.
"Where am I? Where is this?" Amy demanded, her voice wavering.
One of the Silence turned to face her.
"You are Amelia Pond," it hissed.
Amy gave it a withering look. "You're ugly, has anyone mentioned that to you?" she snapped.
"We do you honour. You will bring the Silence. But your part will soon be over."
"Whatever that means, you've made a big mistake bringing me here, because wait till you see what's coming for you now." Amy scowled.
"You have been here many days."
Amy shook her head. "No. I just got here. You just put me in here," she insisted.
"Your memory is weak. You have been here many days."
"No. No, I can't have been," Amy growled.
"You will sleep now. Sleep."
The Silence leaned over her and Amy cringed away.
"No! No! Get off me!" she shouted.
"Sleep."
"No! No!"
A familiar wheezing and groaning suddenly sounded and the TARDIS materialised in the middle of the cave. The Silence all turned to stare at it as the Doctor, Rhea, River and Rory stepped out, casually, a small television set in the Doctor's hands, while Rhea and River both had their guns out and aimed.
The Doctor looked around. "Oh! Interesting. Very Aickman Road, seen one of these before. Abandoned, wonder how that happened. Oh, well!" He shrugged. "I suppose I'm about to find out. Rhea, Rory, River, keep one Silent in eyeshot at all times," he ordered. He looked at the stoic faces of the Silence and smiled. "Oh, hello, sorry. You're in the middle of something. Just had to say though, have you seen what's on the telly?" His eyes drifted to where Amy was tied down. "Hello, Amy, you all right? Want to watch some television?"
The Doctor set the television set down on the table. The Silence made to advance on him, but the Doctor's jaw squared.
"Ah, now, stay where you are. Because look at me, I'm confident," he warned, smugly. "You want to watch that, me, when I'm confident. Oh, and this is my girlfriend, Rhea, although she's not too big a fan of that word."
Rhea rolled her eyes. "That's because I'm not a girl and you're not a boy and there's no way in hell we're getting drunk and naked and fucking in the back of a pick-up truck, which means that the terms 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' are significantly inaccurate," she stressed.
"Rhea, darling, you shouldn't broadcast the details of our… private, adult cuddling times. There are children present," the Doctor admonished, making Rhea grin. He shook his head. "Anyway, as you can see, she and our friend, River, both have nice hair, their own guns, and unlike me, they really don't mind shooting people. Especially Rhea." He paused, rounding on her. "I shouldn't like that. Kind of do." He confessed, winking at her.
Rhea's lips twitched. "Thanks, babe."
"I know you're team players and everything, but she'll definitely kill at least the first seven of you."
Rhea sloped forwards until her back was pressed against the Doctor's, her index finger set on the trigger.
"The first twelve, easily," she corrected.
It was an underestimation, actually – if she didn't have her gun, she would've cut it down it to around ten or eleven, without the need for back-up, but the gun definitely helped her odds. However, she didn't like to be cocky, so twelve aliens that she didn't want to trivialise would have to do.
"Twelve, really?"
"Oh, fifteen for you, honey," Rhea crooned.
"Stop it," the Doctor growled in his sex-voice that she loved.
"Make me!" she purred, her eyes flashing with some wanton intent.
"Yeah, well, maybe I will," he warned, roughly.
Something low in her stomach clenched at his rasping tenor, and reveries of how he would exact his retribution left her aching between her legs, and she tilted her head to the side, lest he see the embarrassing crimson flush on her neck like she was some teenage girl getting wet for the first time.
But thank God for Amy, who scowled.
"Is this really important, flirting? I feel like I should be higher on the list right now," she snapped.
The Doctor cleared his throat, although his eyes darkened considerably when he caught sight of Rhea rubbing her thighs together.
"Yes, right, sorry. As I was saying, these two lovely ladies here are going kill the first five of you to attack, plus him behind. So maybe you want to draw lots, or have a quiz," he offered.
Meanwhile, Rory was attempting to free Amy from her bonds.
"What's he got?" Amy asked, worriedly.
"Something, I hope," Rory sighed.
The Doctor strode around the console in the centre of the cavern. "Or maybe you could just listen a minute, because all I really want to do is accept your total surrender, and then I'll let you go in peace." His voice lowered, brutally. "You've been interfering in human history for thousands of years. People have suffered and died. But what's the point in two hearts, if you can't be a bit forgiving now and then." He stared into the leader's face, but received nothing in return. He sighed. "Ooh! The Silence. You guys take that seriously, don't you?" he said, dryly. "Okay, you got me, I'm lying. I'm not really going to let you go that easily. Nice thought, but it's not Christmas," he joked. "First," He switched on the television set he had brought with him. "You tell me about the girl. Who is she? Why is she important? What's she for?"
The Silence refused to speak.
"Guys, sorry. But you're way out of time. Now, come on, a bit of history for you. Aren't you proud, because you helped?" He pulled out the antenna from the television. "Do you know how many people are watching this live on the telly? Half a billion," he crowed. "And that's nothing, because the human race will spread out among the stars, you just watch them fly. Billions and billions of them, for billions and billions of years. And every single one of them, at some point in their lives, will look back at this man, taking that very first step, and they will never, ever forget it." He said pointedly.
The Doctor stopped in his tracks and they all watched as the moon landing unfolded before them.
"Oh," The Doctor took out his phone. "But they'll forget this bit." He addressed Canton, who was on the other end of the call. "Ready?"
"Ready," Canton agreed, pressing Amy's phone against the phone the Doctor had given him, which activated the device the Doctor had engineered earlier in Apollo 11.
"It's one small step for man..."
The broadcast of the moon landing was sharply interrupted by the video of the Silence that Canton had shot earlier, on a loop and without pause.
"You should kill us all on sight,"
"You've given the order for your own execution, and the whole planet just heard you," the Doctor said, triumphantly.
"One giant leap for mankind."
"And one whacking great kick up the backside for the Silence!" the Doctor gloated, jumping on his feet. "You just raised an army against yourself. And now, for a thousand generations, you're going to be ordering them to destroy you every day. How fast can you run? Because today's the day the human race throw you off their planet."
The leader advanced on the Doctor, looming over him, as he backed away.
"They won't even know they're doing it. I think, quite possibly the word you're looking for right now is, oops. Run!" he paused when no one did anything. "Guys, I mean us! Run!" he urged, pointedly, to the other four.
The Silence crackled with electricity, just as Rhea and River began to fire, the Doctor aiding them with his sonic screwdriver.
"I can't get her out!" Rory shouted to the Doctor.
"Go, just go!" Amy insisted.
"We are not leaving without you!" Rory argued.
Amy gritted her teeth. "Will you just get your stupid face out of here?!" she snapped.
Rory stilled and looked up at Amy like he had never seen her before.
"Right, into the TARDIS, quickly!" River ordered.
The Doctor used the sonic screwdriver against the straps that pinned Amy down until they loosened and freed her, and Rory helped her to the TARDIS, while Rhea, River and the Doctor held the Silence at bay
"Don't let them build to full power!" the Doctor shouted.
The air buzzed thick with the sound of bolts of energy flying past and electricity crackling.
"Why the hell do you think I'm shooting?" Rhea snapped. She shot a look at him, brandishing his screwdriver at the Silence, threateningly.
"What are you doing?" River asked, bewildered, voicing Rhea's concerns.
"Helping," the Doctor said, as if it were obvious.
Rhea rolled her eyes. "You've got a screwdriver," she said, incredulously. "Go build a fucking cabinet!" She flung.
"That's really rude!" the Doctor shot back.
"Oh, would you just shut up and drive!"
The Doctor raced back into the TARDIS while Rhea and River acted in a rhythm foreign to her, but somehow deep in her bones. It was like River knew when and where she would lunge with her own gun, and twisted herself to act in accordance. It was a cadence she had only known with one other person and it wasn't River, which begged the question of how River knew her so well that she could fight with her like this – a sister in arms.
She was acting on nothing more than instinct, her blaster turning the Silence into kindling. She spun in an arch, an alpha meson blast striking each and every alien in the cavern dead and true, before landing in a crouch, River beside her in an identical position. They both slowly slid to their feet, noticing Rory staring at them with awe and just the slightest amount of healthy fear, standing in the doorway of the TARDIS. Rhea's smirk was just the right kind of dangerous as she holstered her gun once more. River preferred a more theatrical version and twirled her gun into its holster strapped to her thigh.
"The walking fashion disaster didn't see that, did he?" Rhea asked, curiously. "He only said the first five, but I think we got a little carried away." She grinned at River, who shared the same satisfaction in her eyes.
"He gets ever so cross," River mused.
"Aren't you a psychologist?" Rory blurted out.
Rhea threw her head back and laughed. "Of course, I am." Her hips swayed as she entered the TARDIS, something wild in her steps. "Why would you think any different?"
Rory's gaze drifted from a receding Rhea to an equally smug River. "So, what kind of doctor are you?"
"Archaeology," River said, simply. She, gracefully, ducked out of the way when a bolt came flying out of the TARDIS, narrowly missing Rory's shoulder and striking the remaining alive Silence behind River right in its heart. "Love a tomb," she purred.
She entered the TARDIS to find Rhea shoving the Doctor away from the console, unceremoniously, choosing to work the controls herself.
"You can let me fly it!" the Doctor argued.
"I just left a graveyard of horror-movie aliens on the other side of the door," Rhea scowled. "There's no way in hell I'm letting you get us out of here."
Amy walked down the steps to Rory, who was still standing by the door.
"What's the matter with you?" she asked, worriedly, seeing something soft and endearing in his expression (not that he didn't usually look at her like that, but there was just this awe to it this time that had her confused).
"You called me stupid," Rory said, simply.
Amy stared at him. "I always call you stupid," she said, slowly.
"No, but... my face," Rory said, pointedly. Amy reached out and opened Rory's hand to reveal the recorder the Silence had gouged out of her hand. "I wasn't sure who you were talking about. You know, me, or..." His gaze darted to the Doctor, who was busy poking at Rhea for something or another.
"Him?" Amy's face scrunched up in distaste.
"Well, you did say, 'Dropped out of the sky'," Rory said, defensively.
Amy rolled her eyes. "It's a figure of speech, moron!" she said, dryly, pulling him into a long, deep kiss that assuaged any remnants of insecurity Rory might be having.
"Thanks," Rory said, quietly, once they broke away.
Amy smiled, sweetly. "You're welcome."
"Thank you for clearing that up by the way," Rhea called out.
"You're… welcome?" Amy replied, hesitantly.
"'Cause you're my friend and all, but if you were thinking of macking on my guy, I'd hate to put your head into the wall."
Rhea shrugged and it seemed like she had dropped it, something on the TARDIS scanner of more interest to her, so Amy and Rory just laughed and turned back to each other.
President Nixon shook the Doctor's hand and nodded at Rhea, politely.
"So, we're safe again."
The Doctor snorted. "Safe? No, of course you're not safe. There're a billion other things out there, waiting to burn your whole world. But if you want to pretend you're safe, just so you can sleep at night, okay, you're safe," he said, lightly, as if he hadn't just contradicted himself thoroughly just before. "But you're not really." He added. He turned to Canton. "Canton. Till the next one, eh?" He shook his hand, fiercely.
"Looking forward to it," Canton replied.
The Doctor turned to President Nixon. "Canton just wants to get married. Hell of a reason to kick him out of the FBI," he admonished.
President Nixon cleared his throat, blustering. "I'm sure something can be arranged."
The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "I'm counting on you," he said, deliberately.
Rhea sighed and nudged Canton then. "17th May 2004, Massachusetts. Have fun." She winked, resisting the urge to laugh when he looked at her bemused.
President Nixon shifted on his feet. "Er, Doctor... Canton here tells me you're... from the future. Hardly seems possible, but I was wondering..." he trailed off.
The Doctor smirked. "Should warn you, I don't answer a lot of questions."
Rhea rolled her eyes. "But he sure as hell offers plenty of information without prompting," she muttered.
"But I'm a President at the beginning of his time. Dare I ask? Will I be remembered?" President Nixon asked, hesitantly.
"Oh, Dickie," the Doctor clucked his tongue. "Tricky Dickie. They're never going to forget you." He headed for the TARDIS. "Come along, Rhea." He turned back to the President. "Say hi to David Frost for me."
"I'm not a dog, you jerk," Rhea snapped, but followed him into the TARDIS nonetheless.
"David Frost?" she heard the President mutter to himself in confusion.
"You could come with us," Rhea offered, leaning on the doorway to River's cell.
River laughed. "Somehow I don't think your boyfriend would like that too much," she teased. "He doesn't like me very much, I'm afraid."
"Does that change?" Rhea asked, curiously.
River's smile was indecipherable. "Sometimes," she said, vaguely. "And you shouldn't worry about me, darling. I escape often enough. And I have a promise to live up to. You'll understand, soon enough," she said, her expression of glee fading to solemnity.
Rhea's lips pulled at the corners in a semblance of a smile. "Fair enough, doll," she mused, striding back to the TARDIS. "See you next time. Call me." She winked, provocatively.
It was fun to play games with someone who could play them right back at her.
"What, that's it? What's the matter with you?" River called out, startled.
Rhea paused and turned hesitantly. "Did I forget something?" she asked, confused.
River rolled her eyes. "The coy thing gets old after awhile, darling," she said, lightly.
She reached out and curled a lithe hand around Rhea's braid, pulling her in and pressing the sharpest kiss she could to Rhea's pliant, red mouth. Rhea's hands didn't miss a moment and her hands settled on River's waist, her mouth arching under hers.
Then she finally broke away and shook her head, stepping back from River.
"Oh, um," Rhea cleared her throat and swiped at her lower lip with her thumb. "See, the thing is, not that I don't mind kissing beautiful people, but I'm actually trying this whole committed relationship thing with the Doctor and I'm pretty sure this classifies as cheating and I'm actually not that kind of girl, but it was very nice," she offered, lamely.
River simply stared at her, something fracturing behind her eyes. "You're acting like we've never done that before," she said, slowly.
"That's because we haven't," Rhea replied, steadily.
"We haven't?" River echoed, her voice toneless.
"River, are you okay?" Rhea took a concerned step forward.
River ran her teeth over her lower lip and took a step back, clearing her throat. "Just fine, everything's fine."
Was it just her or was that smile all too fake?
Rhea frowned. "Well, then, I probably should go, or the Doctor will start whinging," she joked, half-heartedly. "But it really was very nice, and if it weren't for the Doctor…" she trailed off, thinking it would be better for her not to finish that sentence. "You know what they say, there's a first time for everything." She said, lightly.
"And a last time," River whispered to herself once the TARDIS doors had shut behind Rhea.
It was almost poetic in a way.
"Rory, I'm going to need thermo couplings. The green ones and the blue ones," the Doctor instructed.
"Okay, hold on," Rory headed off.
The Doctor approached a wistful Rhea with concern. "Everything okay, Dimples?"
Rhea broke out of her haze and looked at the Doctor. "Hm? Oh, yeah, everything's fine."
If only she could get River's desolate eyes out of her mind.
The Doctor nodded and pressed his mouth to the crown of her head, fiercely. It made her smile and she patted his hand.
She would tell him tomorrow about the kiss.
"So," the Doctor looked at Amy.
"So?" Amy raised an eyebrow.
"You're okay?" the Doctor asked, worriedly.
Amy nodded, reassuringly. "Fine. Head's a bit weird. There's lots of stuff I can't quite remember." She frowned, thinking to the photo she had seen of her and baby in the orphanage.
"After effect of the Silence. Natural enough," the Doctor explained and then hesitated. "That's not what I was asking. You told me you were pregnant."
"Yes."
"Why?" the Doctor pushed.
"Because I was. I thought I was," Amy corrected herself. "Turns out I wasn't."
"No. Why did you tell me?" the Doctor asked, pointedly.
Amy stared at him, bemused. "You're my friend. You're my best friend." She looked at a brooding Rhea. "Both of you."
Rhea rolled her eyes. "I believe this is his way of asking you: why did you tell us and not Rory?"
Amy scowled. "Why do you think? I travelled with you two in this TARDIS for so long. All that time. If I was pregnant for some of it, wouldn't it have had an effect?" she asked, sharply. "I don't want to tell Rory that this baby might have three heads, or like a time head or something."
"What the hell is a time head?" Rhea asked, sceptically.
"I don't know," Amy retorted. "But what if it had one?"
"A time head?" the Doctor chuckled, lowly.
"Shut up, all right!"
And Rhea rolled her eyes because apparently it was so funny that Amy and the Doctor cracked up laughing.
"So lame," she muttered to herself.
"Oi! Stupid face," Amy called out.
Rory made his way back to the console, sheepishly. "Er, yeah. Hello."
Amy narrowed her eyes at the blinking recorder in Rory's palm. "Taking that away from you, if you're going to listen in all the time," she warned, lightly.
"Okay, that's a fair point. But you should've told me that you thought you were pregnant. I'm a nurse, I'm good with pregnancy," Rory said, pointedly.
"Not, as it turns out, that good," Amy said, dryly. "So, can you stop being stupid?" She bounded towards her husband and threw her arms around him.
Rory's chest rumbled with satisfaction. "Er, no. Never. I'm never, ever going to stop being stupid!"
The Doctor tugged on Rhea's braid, forcing her to look up.
"Are you sure you're okay, lovely?" the Doctor asked, urgently.
Rhea shook her head. "It's just-" An unbidden smile came to her mouth. "I like you a lot, you know that?" she said, almost wonderstruck at the very idea
The Doctor grinned. "I like you a lot too," he teased.
Obviously, that was code for something.
She jumped to her feet and kissed him low and long and hard, taking time to meld her mouth against his before pulling away with a gentle smile.
"What was that for?" he asked, pulling her close.
"I never thought it could be like this, being with you," Rhea confessed.
"Like what?" the Doctor frowned.
"Wonderful," Rhea replied, shyly.
This time, the Doctor kissed her instead, his mouth warm and sweet and comforting against hers, making her shiver on the inside with the need of him.
She fluttered when she pulled away, looking up at him through her eyelashes.
"Just promise me something."
"Anything," the Doctor hummed.
"Promise me it will always be like this; it will always be wonderful," Rhea said, fiercely.
She didn't want to think about the Doctor being put down like a dog on some beach. She didn't want to think about a little girl clawing her way out of a spacesuit that may or may not be the Doctor's killer. She didn't want to think about River Song and her sweet kiss and her sad eyes.
She just wanted wonderful.
Wasn't she owed wonderful?
The Doctor's hands were warm as they spanned around her neck. She curled into that hold, her eyes closing briefly, before she looked at him indomitably.
"It will always be like this; it will always be wonderful. I'll make sure of it," the Doctor swore, letting her lean into his chest for as long as she needed to before unrest kicked in and she had to pull away.
There was too much of a wild animal in her for her to be truly comfortable. At least, not yet.
But she had asked for patience and he had acquiesced because an existence with Rhea – the beautiful woman who could never be caught, restrained, controlled; dependent, unpredictable and cunning and cold with a heart of gold, visceral and fierce but fearing and evading intimacy like the plague – far surpassed an existence without her.
He cleared his throat and they pulled away from one another, Rhea glad that Amy and Rory had been too caught up in their own relationship to pay attention to the Doctor and her.
"So, this little girl, it's all about her," the Doctor said, loudly, drawing Amy and Rory's attention. "Who was she?" he paused, gazing at Rhea. "Or we could just go off and have some adventures. Anyone in the mood for adventures? I am. You only live once." He teased, knocking Rhea's hip with his.
Amy and Rory watched as the emotion waned in Rhea, remembering how the woman had attempted to maul her way out of River's arms to get to the Doctor before he fell on that beach.
Yes, Rhea knew you only live once better than most.
The Doctor fiddled with the scanner controls, pulling something up on the screen. He smiled at Amy while Rhea gazed up at the scanner, as the TARDIS performed a full-body scan on Amy, testing for pregnancy. Rhea tensed when the results were ambivalent, switching between positive and negative.
"What does that even mean?" Rhea asked, quietly.
"I don't know yet," The Doctor replied, mirthlessly. He paused and looked at Amy briefly before looking back to Rhea. "Unethical?"
"Unethical," Rhea said, grimly.
A/N: Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that! I debated long and hard over whether to have Rhea kiss River or not, and I decided to go ahead with the kiss because I thought it would change their dynamic just a bit more. So, Rhea did kiss back but she did remember that she's in a committed relationship now and she pulled away and she made it clear that she wasn't available for that sort of thing anymore, even if she is attracted to River, which is definite character growth. And don't worry, she will be telling the Doctor about the kiss once she gets over her own confusion about it herself.
Anyway, see you guys next chapter and don't forget to leave a review!
Reviews:
grapejuice101: Thank you!
Kore353: Thank you!
NicoleR85: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
SunshineSupersAndSpace: You and me both, babe.
RandomFandoming: Happy New Year, and thank you!
deathb4beauty: Thank you! Unfortunately, I never got around to watching Classic Who, so we won't be getting any episodes with Rhea before I finish up.