I really did not expect to be uploading two chapters today. I'm working on chapter four, so you won't have long to wait. I'm also throwing in a couple more reviewer replies up here seeing as I've already received the amount I wanted for Chapter Three.

mira.g: I'm not giving any spoilers, so you'll have to keep reading to find out.

x-Avarice-x: Your review really gave me a boost, so thanks. I was worried I was straying way out of character for them, and I'm still a little wary of it. Not sure if this chapter is in character or not, but still, I think it came out okay, don't you?

hammyful: Thank you! Amy lost my respect after she kissed the Doctor, knowing full well she was in a relationship with Rory. That annoyed me.

Chapter Three

"Mine. That's mine. That was trouble. I lost a hand with that." The Doctor said, as he and Rory strolled through a museum, at some time in the 29th Century and somewhere relatively close to the Horsehead Nebula. The Doctor weaved between various displays, totalling up all the ones that were there as a direct result of him. So far, he'd counted 17. Rory followed behind him, taking passing glances at the displays.

"Why are we here, Doctor?" Rory asked, unsure of the Doctor's motives in bringing him to a museum. The Doctor had a brief thought of when Amy had asked him the same question, all the way back at the Crash of the Byzantium.

"Museums are exciting, Rory!" he exclaimed in response. "In a museum, you can see how ancient civilisations functioned, how they were brought to their knees, what passed for entertainment... Besides," he said before turning to look at Rory, a beaming smile across his face. "I like to keep score."

"Score?" Rory repeated, unsure what the Doctor meant. He thought for a moment before realised what the Doctor meant. "You mean some of the things in here are yours?" he asked, starting to pay more attention to the exhibits.

"Kind of. You see that?" the Doctor asked, pointing at a sheet of crusty, black metal, with what looked like words written in some unknown alien language. "I wrote that. The notice says it's a poem to a lover, but it's only a shopping list I wrote for a friend. Museums may be good at finding things, but they don't always get their facts right." This time he was certain. He knew it. He'd heard a laugh. It was a small one, barely audible, but it was a laugh nonetheless. He was finally making progress with the human, and he was determined to keep going. Seeing as how he'd gotten Rory back to laughing, despite quietly, he thought the man deserved a treat. "I'm bored, Rory. Which is a very rare occurrence, so please come up with an idea that will keep me from putting up about fifty cabinets with this thing." he said, waving the Sonic around carelessly.

"Well, I could do with a drink..." The human suggested with a disinterested shrug of his shoulders. The Doctor had hoped to keep Rory away from alcohol, worried that if the man got inebriated, he would become depressed about Amy, but with all the progress he had made with him, he decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Sounds good to me, it's been a while since I've had a nice drink, and I know the perfect place to go, c'mon!" The Doctor grinned as he started to head for the TARDIS. As he passed Rory, he took the man's hand and pulled him along behind him. "The Maldovarium, best bar this side of the universe! Great people, lovely people, they'll shoot your head off without a second thought, but only if you tick them off, so if I were you, I'd stick with me. Except maybe when you go to the toilet. That'd just be weird. Or maybe you should. There are some strange people in the toilet." the Doctor said exuberantly, whispering the last part.

Rory smiled. He loved that the last of the Time Lords was making such an effort to make him feel better. And he did. He'd started to feel better ever since the Doctor had started helping him out. The Time Lord had even given him a bath. The feel of the Doctor's gentle, soft hands as he washed the man's body. It had felt better than any bath he'd had with Amy. The impact of losing her was still deeply ingrained in his mind, but in the last couple of weeks, he wasn't so bad anymore. He just tried to keep his mind off of her. The Doctor was helping him to occupy himself, but he still had lapses sometimes, just small things that he saw strangers doing that reminded him of Amy. And sometimes he dreamt about her. But then they turned into nightmares and he'd wake up in the Doctor's arms while the Time Lord tried to calm him down. The Doctor was being so caring, and he'd probably never be able to repay him. The prospect of a drink was cheering him up a fair bit too. Maybe if he got drunk, he'd be able to not think about Amy, and be carefree for a while.

The Doctor fiddled with a couple of the TARDIS's controls, and the ship rocked into life. It threw its occupants around like a couple of ragdolls, who were doing their best to hold onto the railings. Rory's grip faltered as the TARDIS make a sharp turn to the left, and he tumbled around the side and crashed into the Doctor, knocking him over and falling onto him, one of his legs sliding between the Doctor's, making his knee knock hard against the glass floor and his wrists hurt as he put out his hands to catch himself. The Doctor, on the other hand, fell backwards with Rory's weight pushing him down, and the back of his head made a dull thud as it hit the ground. After a moment of the two just lying in slight pain and wondering what had happened, the two looked up at each other and burst into gales of laughter.

Their laughter slowly died down, and the pair just looked at each other for a moment. The Doctor knew that the TARDIS had landed, and that they should probably get up, but the way that the light from the centre column was hitting Rory's face made him look so young. So vulnerable. The Doctor just wanted to hold him and protect him from the dangers of the universe. The man had taken a bullet for him back in the day, and now it was time to repay him, he wouldn't let anything else hurt Rory.

Unconsciously, the Doctor moved his hand to brush the back of his fingers lightly over the human's cheek, the tiny bristles of facial hair scratching at his skin. Rory just gazed back at the Doctor, unmoving. The Doctor's fingers drifted across his cheek and up to his ear, ghosting across the shell of the human's ear. Rory's head tilted slightly towards the hand, the Doctor's touch make him feel better than he had in ages. A corner of the Doctor's mouth curled up in a smile, slightly surprised that Rory could be so childish, so... adorable. He'd always thought there was an adorable quality about the male, but now, he was in awe of it.

While the Doctor was staring, Rory was leaning. Closer and closer to the Doctor. He wasn't sure why he was doing it, but something was just pulling him towards the Time Lord. The Doctor's hand slipped around to the back of Rory's neck, drifting against the short hairs that dwelled there. Rory moved closer still, until there was less than an inch between their lips. The Doctor brought himself back down to Earth and quickly turned his head away, moved his hand from Rory's neck and started to get up. Rory blinked in confusion and what felt like disappointment as he stood back up, wondering why the Doctor hadn't wanted to kiss him. He wasn't entirely sure why he'd wanted the Doctor to kiss him, and he was now thoroughly confused. An awkward silence filled the TARDIS, both men wanting to move on from it and get to the drinking part that had been mentioned earlier.

"Someone mentioned a drink, didn't they?" the Doctor asked the man, hoping it would get over the silence. "C'mon then, we've landed, and outside that door is a drink that not only glows green in the dark, but also lets you defy gravity for about ten seconds." he said as he straightened his bow-tie and grabbed a fez. With said fez sitting proudly on his head, he walked to the door and opened it for Rory. "Après vous." he said in a mock French accent. Rory's lips curled into a smile as he walked to the door.

"Merci beaucoup, Docteur." he replied to the Doctor, in a slightly more convincing accent as he passed the Time Lord, making him beam.

"Je vois que vous savez que votre Français." He said with a happy smile.

"What?"

"I guess not." the Doctor said with a chuckle as he locked the TARDIS, and led Rory into the Maldovarium.

I apologise greatly if anything is wrong with what's written in french, I used an online translator. It's meant to say "I see you know your French". If this is wrong, let me know with a more accurate translation.

Also, I hope you liked it. Review, if you want. I'd like a couple of them before I pop chapter four on. :)