I am so sorry that this took A YEAR to update. I hope the next chapter doesn't take nearly as long considering that the first draft of that one is almost finished.
Big thanks to LastIncurableRomantic, WhoinWhoville, KelKat9 and countless others for supporting me and to Veritascara for giving this the once over.
Rose wasn't exactly sure why Amy and Rory had called and asked to see them, but she was thrilled nonetheless. It had been far too long since she had seen her son and daughter. And while she understood their need for space while they dealt with their grief—she had hidden away after her husband had died—she also wanted to comfort them.
She helped the Doctor finish the dematerialization sequence, her hands shaking slightly. With luck, whatever they needed to say would be good news. She wasn't sure if she would be able to handle news that they were getting a divorce or something like that. Her mind had been whirling through the worst case scenarios in the five hours since Rory had called her.
The ship landed with a small thump in its regular spot in Tony's guest room. Walking up behind her, the Doctor wrapped his arms around her. "This is a good thing, my love." His lips brushed against her ear as he spoke. "Because if it wasn't, they would have asked to meet anywhere else but here. This is a safe place."
"I know," Rose sighed. "I just… It just feels like we're all so fragmented, and I want our family to feel whole again."
His arms tightened protectively. "And we will, in time. What happened has been hard on everyone; it changed everyone. Before you know it, life will be back to footie matches, Sunday dinners, and school plays, in between seeing the birth of stars, the rise and fall of civilizations, as well as the rest of the wonders of the Universe, of course."
Rose chuckled. "When did you become the expert on domestics?"
"Just about the time you gave me a family." He shifted, taking her hand and leading her towards the door. "Come along, Tyler, before the grandchildren beat down the door."
"I thought the combined hordes of Genghis Kahn couldn't get in here," Rose teased, catching her tongue between her teeth and grinning.
"Have you seen EJ play chess?" he asked, pulling open the door. "She's almost beat me twice now. ME! I'm sure she could teach Sun Tzu a thing or two about strategy."
Stepping out of the TARDIS, Rose shook her head. "Well, we won't find that out for sure because you are forbidden from taking her to ancient China to meet him."
The sound of little running feet pounded on the floor. "Gran! Granddad! You're here," EJ's voice called from the hall. Throwing open the door, she leapt into the Doctor's arms, giving him a tight hug. Rose resisted the urge to roll her eyes. While EJ loved her Gran, she was most definitely her Granddad's girl. Luckily, she was still Jamie's favorite.
Looking up, she saw her grandson toddling down the hall. Rose rushed over and scooped him up. "Gran Rose," he cooed, snuggling into her chest. "Missed you."
"I missed you too, sweetheart." She hugged him tighter and started towards the kitchen. Behind her, EJ was babbling about her day and the cool lizard she had seen at the park yesterday.
"Aunt Jenny's been reading Jamie and me bedtime stories every night this week. And she said that next week she'll start reading me chapter books if I want." The note of pride in EJ's voice was undeniable.
The Doctor had caught up to Rose now. "I'm sure that you will both enjoy that greatly." He shifted the little girl and made a grab for Jamie. "Now switch and say a proper hello to your Gran." Deftly he moved to take the little boy and place EJ in Rose's arms.
The Doctor, Rose, and their grandchildren stepped into the kitchen to find only Rory and Tony there. The pair of them had their backs turned to the new arrivals, Tony cooking at the stovetop, Rory cutting something at the counter. "Hello," Rose said, trying to get their attention. Both men turned around. Tony immediately dropped what he was doing to embrace Rose and the Doctor. "Thanks for coming. I missed you guys." He extricated Jamie from the Doctor's arms and balanced his son on his hip.
"It hasn't been that long since we've visited. Has it?" the Doctor asked.
"Only about a week," Tony answered. "But with these two constantly asking to see you, it feels like much longer." EJ giggled into the crook of Rose's neck.
"Hello, Mum, Dad," Rory said with a grin. Setting down the knife he was used to cut vegetables, he walked around and hugged both of his parents. "It's good to see you both. I'm sorry that I've been… distant these last few months."
Rose gave her son a bright smile and kept an arm looped around his waist. "It's alright. We understand completely."
"Where is everyone else at? Or is this the extent of the party?" the Doctor asked, a slightly worried tone in his voice. "Not that the four of you aren't reason enough to visit. We would have a great time, wouldn't we kids?" He raised his arms above his head, and both EJ and Jamie cheered.
Chuckling, Tony shook his head. "Everyone else is outside. The wolf cub and I are just finishing tea. Why don't you take the munchkins to the garden, and we'll finish up here."
"Sounds like a plan," the Doctor said, taking Jamie back from his father. Looking at Rory, he whispered, "we'll talk soon, all right?"
Rory nodded.
Leaving their two boys in the kitchen to finish lunch, the Doctor and Rose took EJ and Jamie out into the back garden. As soon as they stepped outside, the children ran off to play.
"Mum! Dad!" Jenny exclaimed happily and ran to embrace them. "How have you been?"
"We've been good, thank you, sweetheart," Rose replied, hugging her back before releasing her to her father.
Sabrina stepped over next. "Been out overthrowing governments again?" she asked, with a slight eye roll, before hugging her mum.
Rose laughed and nodded. "How did you guess?"
Shrugging, Sabrina pulled back. "It seems to be your go-to adventure when you're upset. Somehow, freeing others from oppression makes you feel better about yourself. You have a very distinct pattern, and I'm no psychiatrist, but I'd think that says something very important about you."
Rose narrowed her eyes. "And I think that you should use your powers of observation for good and not evil things like trying to analyze your mother."
"Never. I simply refuse," Sabrina chuckled and nudged Jenny out of the way so she could say hello to the Doctor. "New suit, Dad?" she asked, picking a piece of lint off his new coat. "Only you could pull off purple."
Pulling her into his arms, he hugged her and planted a kiss into her hair. "I like this coat. It's much better than the Technicolor dream coat I wore in a previous incarnation. Plus, your Mum is very, very fond of the waistcoat."
"Ugh." Sabrina pulled a face. "Way too much information, Dad."
Slowly, Rose made her way over to where Amy was standing. The ginger woman was off to the side, her eyes fixed on the two children playing tag in the yard. Gently, Rose put an arm around the younger woman's waist. At first, Amy bristled but soon relaxed her stance. Neither woman said anything for a moment.
Eventually, Amy broke the silence. "I should have answered the phone all those times you called. I just really… wasn't ready to talk you yet." Her gaze never left the children.
"There's no need to apologize, sweetheart," Rose assured her. "And I'm still not going to pressure you to talk about anything that you don't want to. Just know that I'm here and I love you."
A small sigh escaped Amy's lips. "Thanks." She paused and leaned her head against Rose's.
~oOo~
Lunch had finished and Tony had carted an already drowsy Jamie upstairs. Ms. Elizabeth Jacqueline would be sent up for her afternoon nap as soon as she finished her chess match against the Doctor. He wasn't lying earlier when he said that she was good. In fact, had she been playing against someone less skilled than himself, she would have had him beat seven moves ago. At four, most people would consider her a prodigy, and with the proper training she would easily best everyone at the Inter-galaxy chess tournament on Werschin, although any Live Chess tournaments were most definitely out of the question.
The Doctor moved his rook and looked up at his granddaughter. Her face fell the moment that she realized what he had done. "Check mate," she said sadly. "Am I ever going to beat you, Granddad?"
"One day, my darling, and from how quickly you learn, I'm sure that that day is not far off." He started to put away the chess pieces of the set. "Now up to bed for a nap and maybe we'll play again later."
"All right," EJ agreed. Leaning over, she kissed him on the cheek and scampered off.
The Doctor leaned back in his chair and watched the people around him, his family.
He could feel the love that they had between them, but he could also feel that recent and future events were threatening to pull them apart. The bond between them, one that at one time had felt unbreakable, was now being threatened by something. It was different than what they had faced in the past.
No, this danger was internal and imminent.
Rory cleared his throat. "Mum, Dad, there are a few things that we, as a group, would like to discuss with you. And it might be best if we move this conversation inside. You never know who might be listening."
It took a moment for everyone to file into the lounge. The Doctor and Rose squeezed into an oversized arm chair, not that they minded being so close together. Rose watched as her son paced the floor. She could feel the myriad of emotions rolling off of him. "Love, what's wrong?" she asked anxiously.
Rory stopped in front of the chair where Amy was sitting and leaned on its arm. "I'm not really sure where to begin," he sighed. "But I need your help."
Laying a hand on his leg, Amy squeezed it to encourage him before she spoke. "It's about River… and the Library. And how we intend to… alter the outcome."
The Doctor stiffened and carefully chose his next words. "Rory, Amy, what happened that day, it's fixed. No matter how much we want to save her, we can't, and I won't allow you to try."
"We aren't asking for your permission, Doctor," Rory said curtly, and the Doctor winced at Rory's use of his name rather than calling him dad. "We were asking for your help. I need your help, dad."
The Doctor leaned forward and attempted to keep his voice level. "Rory, I would do almost anything for you, anything except messing with a fixed point in time. I tried to do that once and it caused a very good woman to take her own life to try and repair the damage my arrogance created." The Doctor locked eyes with Rory. "I don't want you to go through that pain, especially over something so personal."
"What if it's not a fixed point," Jenny asked. Rose turned to look at her daughter.
"How could it not be fixed?" Rose was confused. "Those events, what happens to River, are key to the Doctor and Donna surviving the Library and to what the Doctor believes his future will be, thus letting the Metacrisis Doctor and I go back to the other universe. If this unravels, so will our entire family."
Trisha spoke next. "Yes, everything up until River's supposed death is fixed. But what if she didn't actually die?"
"There was no body," Tony added. "Just a pile of dust. Dad assumed that she died because there was no other rational explanation."
"But teleportation leaves the same residue," Sabrina chimed in. "Like with mum on the Game Station—you just thought that she died, but she didn't."
Slowly, the Doctor turned to his youngest daughter. "Ok, so even if you teleport River away, that doesn't explain how everyone is freed from the computer matrix. Not without someone else sacrificing themselves, and that will not happen."
"We'll use the TARDIS, my TARDIS," Rory clarified. "She can handle the download."
It sounded so simple, but from experience Rose knew that was almost never the case. Turning to look at the man beside her, Rose could almost see the wheels turning in the Doctor's head as he tried to think through how that would work. After a moment, he shook his head. "It won't work, not without killing you or the TARDIS."
Rory opened his mouth to protest but someone cut him off. "This is where I come in," Jack said, sauntering into the room. "Rory called, said he needed someone to act like a human circuit. Guess he figured that since I couldn't die, I'd make the perfect candidate." He flashed a cheeky grin.
"It was Sabrina's idea to use Jack, actually," Amy explained, smiling at her. "It was the last piece of the puzzle that we needed."
Sabrina smirked. "It wasn't me, not really. It was Idris."
"Idris?" Rose asked, flabbergasted. "From when we were in the pocket universe? What did she tell you?"
"In the choice between his daughter and mine, the wrong man will make it right." Sabrina shook her head. "I figured the part out about Jack fairly quickly but I didn't understand the first part. Especially since Rory and Tony have been keeping this plan a secret for years."
"How long?" Rose asked before the Doctor could launch into another protest. "Rory, how long have you been working on this?"
"Since I was fifteen. Since Sabrina's birthday in Colorado," Rory explained. "That was when I knew that she had to be my daughter and that I had to save her."
Part of Rose was saddened because her children had been keeping something so important to them a secret for years. But another part of her understood why they would keep it to themselves. After the events on Bowie Base One, the Doctor was skittish about fixed points in time, and rightfully so. Overcome with grief and loss, he had decided that he wasn't going to lose anyone else and the consequences had been dire. The Doctor would have put a stop to any discussion of altering this moment. But by keeping his plan hidden, Rory could work out what he needed to do on his own, with the support of his siblings.
"Alright, I'm in," Rose said firmly. "What's the plan?"
The Doctor looked at her incredulously. "Rose, we can't encourage this."
She turned and looked him straight in the eye. "If you don't feel comfortable, fine; then don't come. But I won't sit by when my children and granddaughter need my help."
"It's a fixed point," he protested again.
Rose shook her head. "I don't care. If Rory thinks he can do this, then I know he can."
"Doctor," Jack interrupted the oncoming fight between the Doctor and Rose. "You aren't the last of the Time Lords anymore. "Jenny and Rory are perfectly capable of navigating a fixed point. You need to trust them."
The Doctor huffed. He implicitly trusted Rory and Jenny; he just didn't want to see them hurt if this didn't work. However, he couldn't protect them forever, and helping was the best way to make sure that the universe didn't implode. "Fine," he relented grudgingly and grabbed Rose's hand. "What do you need from me?"
The tension in Rory's shoulders diminished, and he handed his dad a data pad. "The plan is actually fairly simple. Jack, Jenny, Trisha, and I will land in the computer room before you or River arrives at the Library, and we'll wait, cloaked of course. The TARDIS is already programmed to interface with the mainframe. We'll make adjustments when we get there.
"After River has knocked you out, I will come out of the TARDIS and finish the connections needed for the download and the teleportation. By the time you wake up—by the time he wakes up—everything will be done. The sonic will have a copy of River's brain waves that will be downloaded into it so that you can 'upload' that into the data core. When the countdown ends, River will end up safely with me while my TARDIS completes the download."
The Doctor looked up from the data he'd been studying while Rory spoke. "This is incredibly well thought out, and it just may work. What I don't understand is what you actually need me for?"
Rory grinned. "Two things, first, I need to know every detail of your time in the computer room as well as exactly how long you were unconscious. And second, even if everything goes to plan, I don't think my TARDIS will be strong enough to travel after the download. So we'll need a lift, and we can't exactly ask past you for one. That would be one hell of an awkward explanation."
Unable to help himself, the Doctor sniggered. "Since you lot are so determined to pull this off, I'll help. Let's go take a look at how you've got the TARDIS programmed, see if there are any adjustments I can help make."
~oOo~
"Stop fidgeting," Amy said as she smoothed down the tie of Rory's new suit. "She's going to know that something is going on if you can't act normal."
Rory reached over and grabbed his wife's hand. "She's going to know either way. We're not supposed to be in her timeline right now. For River, she just left Tony and Trisha's wedding. She's not expecting to see us again."
"Well, it's time to prove her wrong." Amy smiled. "Are you ready?"
"As I can be," he whispered.
"Do you have the sonic?"
He patted his left breast packet. "Right here. Let's do this." Raising his hand, he knocked on the door. A few moments later it opened.
"Amy, Rory, what are you doing here?" River asked, confused.
"Don't be so formal, love," Amy chided. "It's mum and dad tonight, and we're here to take you on an adventure. How does dinner on Darillium sound? The singing towers are beautiful this time of year."
River bit her lip trying to hold back a smile and failed. "Sounds great mum, just let me get my coat." A minute later, she came back excited to spend time with her parents, whom she never thought she'd see again. Little did she know that tomorrow when she left on her expedition to the Library that a whole new future would open up to her.