The TARDIS shook as it began to take off into space. Or time. Or maybe even a combination of the two. Rory was unsure where they could possibly be going. He watched The Doctor concentrate on adjusting bits and bobs on the console. Just like this new-but-old TARDIS, the Doctor was so familiar but so different. He donned a pinstriped suit and tie and another ridiculous hair do. He was energetic and talked just as much as he did when Rory traveled with him before. Well, as he will. But he was much more adult-like and less impulsive. He seemed to carry the weight of a great loss on his shoulders. Rory couldn't help but sympathize with the new-but-old Doctor, even if he would some day be the cause of Amy walking out on him. He pushed the thought out of his mind and walked towards the console.
"So, where exactly are we going?" Rory asked. The Doctor was staring at the monitor through his glasses and his forehead was furrowed in a deep concentration.
"Well, it's a bit complicated. I'm sure you're aware that I can't go back and in time to change my own time line. It would create a paradox and could very well cause the universe to collapse." The Doctor explained as he looked back and forth from the monitor to what his hands were doing.
"In all fairness, you've already done that." Rory replied. His mind went back to the two thousand years he spent waiting for Amy while she was in the Pandorica; how he held Amy as she watched the Doctor trade places with her. He wished River had been right when she told them they would wake up where they were supposed to be with no memory of any of it, or of the Doctor. That memory of River then sparked the realization that Rory had yet to find his daughter and tell her what had happened. He wasn't sure how far back she went with the Doctor but if anyone could find her, it would be him.
"Do you know River Song?" he asked.
"How do you know Professor Song?" The Doctor inquired with his eyebrows raised.
"Uh, she's our daughter. Me and Amy's. She's a doctor though, not a professor." Rory shifted uncomfortably as he mentioned Amy's name. "But that means you know her then?"
"I met her once. In a library. Well, a planet that is a library. All the people disappeared. She sent me a message on psychic paper so I popped in. She kicked in the doors with a group of archeologist. Wouldn't leave no matter what I said." he explained.
"She's just like her mum." Rory said with a half-hearted smile. He could only imagine what his daughter could have done to the Doctor that didn't know her yet.
"She knew me, though. I'd never seen her before but she knew all about me. And... she knew my name."
Rory paused before he spoke again. He knew River would scold him for telling the Doctor spoilers. And he didn't want to be the cause of a universe collapsing paradox. But he feared that the consequences of not telling him would be worse.
"Because you're married. River Song will be your wife some day. When you met her, she already was."
The Doctor fell silent. How could he be so thick to try and make himself believe she could know his name any other way? He hit one more button on the TARDIS console then turned and walked away. He disappeared into one of the corridors leading out of the control room. He kept going until he reached the library. He walked to an inconspicuous desk in one of the corners of the room and opened the drawer in the center. Inside was River's blue diary, and her sonic screwdriver. He picked up the diary and looked at it. A book full of his future. But it needed a little readjusting.
"I'm so sorry, River." he whispered to the little blue book.
In the control room, Rory's stomach was in knots. He looked down at the picture in his hands of his wife and daughter. It had been taken a few weeks after the wedding. The three of them looked like a a happy, normal family. Rory could never have imagined things turning out like this. He'd already lost Amy to one Doctor. He hoped he hadn't lost his daughter to another. She was all he really had left.
A few minutes later, the Doctor walked back into the room. In his hands was River's diary. Rory felt his heart in his throat again. River kept that diary on her at every moment.
"Why do you have that?" He barely managed to squeak out the words.
"The day I met River is the day she died. She hooked herself up to the hard drive of the library's computer so she could rescue four thousand people saved in it as energy signatures. I tried to stop her but I was a little... tied up. But I saved her, sort of. She's in the hard drive now, living in a virtual world." the Doctor explained. "Now we have to rescue her. And we have to find your wife. So we're going to use River's diary to do both. But I need your permission as her father. And my father-in-law."
He handed the diary over to Rory who cradled it in his hands. He opened it slowly and flipped through the pages of his daughter's memories. What choice did he have but to say yes? He nodded his head and handed it back to the Doctor. He turned through the pages trying to find somewhere to start their search. Rory stepped out of the Doctor's way so he could resume running around the TARDIS console, pushing and pulling and turning things as he went. Something flickering across the monitor and the sound of static caught his attention. He watched the monitor intently trying to figure out what he had missed. It flickered across the screen again; a thin white line followed again by the sound of static. Something about it made him wary. It stirred up memories he didn't know he had.
"How could a little line be familiar? Why can't I remember?" he said said to himself quietly.
"Did you say something?" The Doctor said from the opposite side of the console.
"I was just thinking out loud. It's nothing." Rory replied trying to shake the uneasy feelings. "I do have a question though. How are we going use River's diary if it's all things that happened in the past? Isn't that against the rules of time and space or something?"
"Well, it'll be tricky since it's your past. But it's my future. So if we go into it with the intention of changing my future the universe shouldn't collapse. Still a plan in progress though." The Doctor said feeling clever.
"Shouldn't?" Rory said.
"Like I said, plan in progress." The Doctor replied.
"Right. Same as ever." Rory said dryly.
"Rory, if we're going to save your daughter and your wife, I need you to trust me. I know that you're angry with me right now but the version of me that's with you now is one that hasn't done anything to hurt you yet. And I'm going to need your help." he said. His voice was serious but gentle.
"Alright." Rory agreed sheepishly. He knew he was right even if he didn't want to admit it. I'll try."
"Right. So what we're going to do is travel to the library, go into the dream world, find River and then bring her back to the real world with us." the Doctor said with renewed spirits. "Off we go!"
The Doctor flipped one last switch and they were off in the direction of the library planet to rescue his daughter. He tried to calm his nerves and collect himself. He knew that when they landed, he was going to have to be able to handle anything in order to begin piecing his family back together. He was the man of the family and now, more than ever, he needed to be the part. The TARDIS landed on the porch in front of the library's entrance. The two men grabbed what they needed and headed out. They walked up the set of stairs leading from the porch to a pair of large wooden doors with the library on the other side. The Doctor soniced the lock open and looked at Rory before opening them.
"Ready?" He asked.
Rory swallowed hard and nodded. I'm as ready as I'll ever be, he thought as he watched the doors swing open.