2. Family Visits.
Rory sighed as he walked through their front door – he so loved saying that – and walked into their house. He still couldn't believe that he and Amy were married and living together. And that they were currently living in Leadworth, not the TARDIS. And Rory had to say that he was loving the distinct lack of bunk beds here. It was a definite plus.
What wasn't so much a definite plus, however, was the constant niggle of worry in the back of his mind that The Doctor would never find Melody. River. He shook his head like a horse shaking off flies. He never could wrap his head around all that timey-wimey… stuff. In fact, he could have sworn the Doctor just made half of it up so that he would look cool in front of Amy.
As if he needed to do that. He had a TARDIS and was basically an imaginary friend come to life – there was nothing about that that was not cool. The very opposite, in fact. He had to admit, he still felt jealous of the Time Lord, but then he thought back to the fact that Amy had chosen him, and he felt a little bit better. There was just something comforting about knowing that your wife killed herself and her unborn baby to be with you rather than with an eternally young, rocket scientist clever alien with access to all of time and space.
Rory blinked. Wait. Ok, so he could have phrased that better.
Which lead his thoughts inevitably back to their baby. Their real baby, this time. The one that wasn't fake and killed in a car crash but the one that had been kidnapped while simultaneously popping and drenching Amy with goo. And who was now visiting them as a grown woman while refusing to say how she even knew or found them in the first place.
Yeah, he was definitely getting a headache. And was that a grey hair? He peered at himself in the hallway mirror, squinting at a slight glint almost out of sight on his head, contorting himself into awkward and painful positions in the process. Ok, so if he couldn't see it, it didn't exist. Good. He could live with that.
He contorted himself one last time, just to be sure.
"Aw," a Scottish voice suddenly drawled from over his shoulder, making him jump, "I know I said you could be a bit more flexible, but practicing in front of a mirror?" She fake pouted. "You really are insecure, aren't you?"
"I wasn't… no, wait," he stuttered as Amy smirked and walked into the kitchen, "I was looking for grey hairs!"
"Why would you be getting grey hairs?" She snorted, opening the fridge, pulling out some carrots, and shutting it with her hip while simultaneously whipping out a knife. "You're plastic."
"I think you know I'm not," he pointed out.
"Of course I do. But you're just cute to tease."
Rory sighed. "I guess now we know where River gets it from."
"You love it really," she asserted, violently cutting into the carrots.
Rory edged away from her slightly, suddenly very aware that he was, in fact, no longer plastic and therefore much more susceptible to things of the sharp variety.
"Hey!" She said suddenly, eyes snapping up and locking on to him. "Where are you going? The sausages aren't going to cook themselves, you know!"
He gawped at her. "Sausages?"
She looked him up and down in amusement. Rory cleared his throat, hoping he wasn't blushing.
"Right, yes, sausages. You haven't put them on yet?"
"No, stupid, that's your job," she said, though with more affection than her words would suggest.
He obligingly got the sausages out of the meat drawer and opened the packet. "Aren't you supposed to do them first?" He asked rhetorically, not really thinking she would answer. "They take longer than carrots."
There was a brief silence.
"Yeah," Amy replied grudgingly, "but this is how I do things, and this is my kitchen, so just… put them on."
"Actually, Mrs Williams," Rory said, putting the sausages on and walking up to Amy, giving her a kiss that nearly made her cut her thumb off, "I think you'll find that this is also my kitchen, now."
She grinned, pulling back from his kiss long enough to look him in the eyes. "Whatever you say, Centurion."
ZAP! "Oh my," River suddenly announced, causing Amy and Rory to jump apart with a shriek and a manly yell, respectively. "I can come back later, if that's more convenient." She winked at Rory.
Rory was pretty sure children weren't supposed to wink at their parents. River, however, seemed thoroughly unconcerned and simply pulled out a chair, sitting in it as if she had grown up in this very house. Which, sadly, she hadn't. At least, he didn't think so. Knowing the Doctor and River, she'd probably grown up in it before Amy lived there. Or after. Or maybe she had been invisible?
"Father dear, I think you had better sit down," River told him in amusement. "You look a bit dazed."
"Yeah," Rory muttered, doing as he was told. "Sorry."
"You were thinking about Melody, weren't you."
Rory nodded, knowing that River knew him well enough to tell when he was lying. And anyway, it hadn't really been a question.
"Is she safe?" Amy asked.
As always, River tensed slightly and gave them a tight smile. "She will be."
Amy immediately locked onto that and, like a dog with a bone, decided not to let it go. "What does that mean? When will she be safe?"
"Spoilers."
"No, I'm sick of spoilers," Amy snapped, carrots now forgotten. "I want my daughter back."
There was that tense smile again. "You have her back."
Amy's expression suddenly softened and she looked down at the carrots in what appeared to be slight shame. "You know what I mean."
Rory got up and went over to her, putting his arms on her shoulders. She gave him a grateful smile.
"I know it's not easy," River said, "but you've got to trust the Doctor. You know he'll find her."
"I just wish he'd let us help," Amy said. "I feel so helpless."
Rory gave her shoulders a squeeze. "It was too dangerous," he told her reasonably, though he knew she would never see it that way. "And you had just given birth. You weren't ready to hunt down a baby throughout time. He was trying to protect us."
"Well he shouldn't," she muttered. "I just want them safe, Rory, and not knowing where or even when they are…" she sighed, blinking once, the closest she would come to tears with River around, "it scares me."
"There is nothing to be scared of, Mother," River said soothingly, getting up from her chair to go and stand on Amy's other side, though her hands remained by her sides, unlike Rory's. "I'm here and we've seen the future Doctor."
Rory refrained from pointing out that, technically, that future Doctor had died. And they didn't know if that version had found Melody or not. They were trying to comfort Amy, not send her into hysterics.
"River's right." He squeezed Amy's shoulders. "And she kind of has the book to prove it."
Amy blew out what might have been a laugh under other circumstances. "Yeah. Sorry." She looked up at both of them in turn with a slight, but genuine, smile. "But thanks. Both of you."
River nodded and moved away again, this time to the window to stare outside at the sunset. The moment was officially over. In silence, Rory and Amy resumed making dinner, which turned out slightly burnt due to the emotional distraction, but no one really minded.
"God I love a burnt sausage," River said innocently, sometime later, before taking a sip of her red wine.
"River!" Rory admonished, without really knowing why. Amy looked over at him in surprise. "Well… it's just…" he floundered, not really having a reason and desperately trying to invent one, "it's dinner time."
Amy rolled her eyes at him. River smirked. "The Centurion awakens," she said, putting down her glass. "I was wondering when I'd get to meet him again."
"Don't you already know?" Rory countered.
"Spoilers," Amy supplied.
Rory sighed. "Right. What isn't."
"So what have you been up to, River, since we last saw you?" Amy asked.
"Well," River said, flickering her hair out the way so that she wouldn't get a mouthful with her meal, "the Doctor came to see me – from a different point in the timeline," she added, when Amy opened her mouth to ask after Melody, "and took me to Cardiff."
Rory and Amy exchanged a glance, eyebrows raised.
"Sorry, what?" Rory asked, even while Amy said, "All of time and space and he took you to Cardiff?"
River nodded as though this was perfectly normal. "He knows how I like to chase the monsters. Makes quite a change from being chased, don't you think? And Cardiff is the perfect place for that. Though for some reason," she added, almost to herself, "he won't take me to see Torchwood. Claims there are too many captains."
"Too many captains?" Rory asked, nonplussed.
"Don't worry, I have no idea what he means either."
"Right," Amy said, nodding blindly, "so was it fun? Chasing aliens in Cardiff, I mean?"
"Very," was the only reply they got.
Vroop! Vroop! Vroop!
Everyone promptly stopped eating and stared at each other. River frantically checked her book, brow creased, before stopping, clearly not wanting to turn the pages further.
"Damn," she muttered.
"What is it?" Amy asked.
"It hasn't happened to me yet," she said, "so I haven't written this down. Looks like we're going to have to play this one by ear."
"Hang on," Rory interrupted, confused, "how is it even possible for it – meeting the Doctor, I mean - to have already happened to you? If it had already happened, you wouldn't be here now, an earlier you would be. Or..." he trailed off, feeling the headache coming back. "Or… something."
"Let's just say that life with the Doctor is very confusing. And occasionally paradoxical," River said. "It doesn't hurt to check if something has already happened before."
"Okay…"
"Don't worry," River said, following Amy outside, "I don't think he understands either, whatever he says to the contrary."
Rory followed Amy into the control room, frowning when he saw the lights were on red. "Has he redecorated? Please don't tell me he's gone all disco. This isn't how disco is supposed to work!" He shouted out, so the Doctor would hear him.
No one answered. Ok, that was weird. Not even a "but disco is cool" drifted from under the engines.
And then suddenly the Doctor was there, but flickering and fading every few seconds, and standing completely still. That was unusual, and definitely a hologram. Or a projection. The Doctor never stood still.
"Emergency Protocol 7 has been completed," the Doctor announced, before disappearing again.
"Wait!" Amy shouted, looking around the room wildly. "Doctor?"
"What's Emergency Protocol 7?" Rory asked River, who had gone pale.
"And where's the Doctor?" Amy demanded.
"He's not here," she said, striding swiftly over to the console and pressing buttons almost as maniacally as the Doctor himself.
"So where is he then?" Amy asked.
"I don't know."
"How can you not know?" Amy countered. "You're his future!"
"Not always," River explained, still not looking at either of them. "Our timelines are all messed up. Until now I've been his future, yes, but since I wasn't with him when this happens - whatever this is – I don't know about it. And he hasn't told me, either."
"What?" Rory asked, feeling the familiar mask of confusion crawl onto his face and die there.
"It's hard to know with time travel," River explained. "This must be something from the Doctor's past – since it's already happened to him, and my future."
"But… that would make him ahead of you, this time?" Amy asked.
River nodded. "Could be. Like I said, our timelines are very mixed up and it's hard to know. For all I know we could actually be in synch at the moment. I've only been his future for most of our recent encounters. In my past, I was his past. He was my future."
"Er…" Rory contributed.
River seemed to be holding in a sigh. "It doesn't matter. What does matter is that the Doctor is in danger and I don't know why." She looked at them both. "I don't think I need to tell you both that that is not a good thing."
"So what do we do?" Amy asked, looking around the room for inspiration.
The console beeped and River ran over to the screen. "Oh no."
"Oh no?" Amy repeated. "Oh no, what? What is it?"
"The TARDIS recorded an unbelievable amount of energy. It stopped her during flight. That's when the Doctor disappeared."
The TARDIS hummed in agreement.
"What does that mean?" Rory asked. "Where did he disappear to?"
"It doesn't track," River said, frowning at the screen. "Whatever it was, it wasn't from this universe." The console bleeped again.
"What does that mean, not from this universe?" Amy asked, sounding more and more worried. "He's in another galaxy?"
"No," River said absently, staring at the screen. "Oh dear God."
"What?" This time, both Ponds – Williamses, he corrected himself – spoke in unison.
"The TARDIS is giving me records to a previous instance where something similar happened," she told them, "she's trying to help us find him. Tell me, has he ever mentioned Donna Noble?"
Rory shook his head, and saw Amy do the same.
"She was a friend of his. They met when she appeared on the TARDIS while she was in flight. She had been dosed with Huon particles, which were attracted to the TARDIS. She beamed in without even realising it."
"What's that got to do with the Doctor?" Amy asked warily.
River was still staring at the screen in disbelief. "The TARDIS is trying to tell us that a similar thing has happened to the Doctor, but in reverse." The TARDIS hummed. "He was taken out of her during flight."
"By those… thing-y particles?" Amy asked.
"No. This energy wasn't even from our universe and can't be tracked to anywhere in this universe. But," she said, "I recognise it."
She pressed a few buttons, an intense look of concentration on her face. "I've done a lot of research on the Time Lords," she explained, "trying to find out about the Doctor's people when I was younger, and I found an article claiming that Time Lords could not only travel through time and space and control it, they could also control the walls between universes. This energy is similar to a sample studied by the article. I thought it was a myth, a distortion of the truth and lack of evidence after the Time Lock, but now I'm not so sure. There's no other explanation."
"So what is it?" Amy asked. "What's happened?"
"I think someone or something from an alternate universe has pulled the Doctor through."
"But that's not so bad, is it?" Amy asked. "We have a TARDIS! We can just go through and get him back!"
River shook her head. "It's not that simple. The walls of reality were shut after the fall of the Time Lords. They're sealed off."
"But they can't be," Rory pointed out. "We see the Doctor die in this universe. It's a fixed point."
The TARDIS beeped again, and an image popped up onto the screen. A blond woman stared back at them, dressed in jeans and a jacket. River's jaw worked up and down.
"Oh you are clever!" She told the TARDIS, sounding very relieved.
"Who's she?" Amy asked, staring at the screen in confusion.
"Rose Tyler," River said, an odd note to her voice but a smile on her face. "Suddenly I'm very glad I forced him to tell me about her – he can be very stubborn," she explained to them. "If I can use the basic ideas that she used for her Dimension Canon-"
"Dimension what?" Rory muttered, pretty sure his head was about to implode.
"-and alter it to account for the new state of the walls between universes, I can find a way to get through to him!"
"So you can bring him back?" Amy asked hopefully.
River shook her head. "No. That type of technology doesn't allow for pulling other people out of universes, only transporting the user into them. And I don't know of any that pulls anyone out of alternate realities in our universe. But," she added, grinning grimly, "I can build something that lets me go through to find him."