Rory was back at the old warehouse. Back guarding the Pandorica. Tonight was Christmas Eve. It had only been a week since the run in with those Cybermen. It still puzzled him how those Cybermen had survived when the universe fizzed out. The weird thing too was the way they moved. Besides being old and rusty (thousands of years does a number on the joints), they seemed more robotic. More robotic than usual, that is.

He heard footsteps outside of the warehouse. A shadow passed over one of the cracks in the wall. Rory crouched down behind a crate and pulled his handgun. He saw a shadow at the door.

"Rory? You in here?" said the shadow. "Tori?" said Rory, standing up from behind his box, "What are you doing here?" "It's Christmas," she said, "Nobody should be alone on Christmas. And I brought a picnic!" She held up a basket and Rory smiled. "Thanks," he said, "Except, I don't eat. I can't. Plastic, remember?" "Oh," she said, setting down the basket.

"So this is the Pandorica," said Tori, walking over to the giant black box. She traced her hand over the circular locking patterns. "What's in here, exactly," she asked, turning to Rory. Rory was silent for a moment. "Something worth protecting... Someone worth waiting for," he said. Tori looked at him compassionately. "Who?" she asked.

Rory looked at her. "Anyways, don't you have someone to spend Christmas with?" he asked. Tori looked a bit annoyed that he didn't answer her, then sighed. "No, actually," she said, "My family lives a bit too far away to visit." "Sorry to hear about that," he said.

"Oh!" said Tori, rummaging through her jacket pockets, "I have a gift for you!" She handed him a small piece of folded paper. Rory took it and unfolded it slowly. It was a drawing of the night sky, hundreds of stars dotting the dark backdrop. He smiled and looked up at her.

"Thank you!" he said. "I know it's small," she said, "But I thought you might be missing the stars. Since you say they actually existed." Tori winked playfully. "I did," he said, and have her a hug.

...

Tori stayed and chatted a bit, then finally headed off. That was nice of her, Rory thought. He really did need the company. All these years he had tried to stay out of the way of history for fear of messing something up. But, he was glad that he had branched out and met Tori. It seemed to be going fine.

"You sentimental fool," hissed a voice. Rory spun around to come face to face with a Silurian.