Chapter 11: The Wedding of River Song

Doctor brave and good

He turned away from violence

When he understood

The Falling of the Silence

River grabs Amy's hand and closes her eyes. The world flickers around them as River's memories appear. Amy holds her hand and watches. She sees a small blond girl transforming into Mels, and then her childhood self appears playing hide and seek with Mels and Rory in Aunt Sharon's garden. There is a small dark room with children's toys on the floor and pictures on the dresser. One of the pictures is of Amy holding an infant. Pain twists in Amy's stomach as she remembers that day and remembers her shock when she saw that picture. She knows now that the Silence had planted that picture. They were all over that building like an infestation, and they could easily have prevented her seeing it. They wanted her to see it, but more importantly they wanted River to see it day after day.

Memories are coming more quickly now. River is hooked up to a machine while Madame Kovarian's voice drones over the room's speaker. She's in front of a computer screen with images of the Doctor flickering far faster than a human could follow. The memories speed up again. Soon they flicker in and out too fast for Amy's eyes to follow.

Suddenly everything slams to a stop. Amy and River are standing on the shore of Lake Silencio, and the Doctor is dying. The memory fades and is replaced by River not shooting the Doctor, and that memory is replaced by River and the Doctor getting married and him whispering in her ear, and they're back on the beach watching River kill the Doctor, and then she isn't shooting him, and then the wedding, and then she's shooting him. Amy realizes River is stuck in a loop of memories she can't escape and she wrenches both of them free and back to the garden.

"I can't let you die." – River

"But I have to die." – The Doctor

"Shut up! I can't let you die without knowing you are loved by so many, and so much, and by no one more than me. " – River

"River, you and I, we know what this means. We are ground zero of an explosion that will engulf all reality. Billions on billions will suffer and die." – The Doctor

"I'll suffer if I have to kill you." – River

"More than every living thing in the universe?" – The Doctor

"Yes." – River

River is trembling so badly she can barely stand. Amy guides her into a patio chair and waits for her to speak. When River finally does speak she sounds young, younger than Amy has ever heard her sound in this regeneration.

"I hid because I killed him. When he started to glow he wasn't trying to regenerate. He was showing me his memories of his past and my future. He tried to comfort me. I was killing him and he was comforting me. I saw the man he was too late, and I ran."

"Amy,it doesn't make sense." River's voice is desperate. "I love him, and I stopped time to save him. He showed me the Teselecta. I didn't kill the real Doctor. Why would I stay inside my head if the Doctor is alive?"

"Oh, River, we always forget Rule One. What did you tell the Doctor when you didn't kill him?"

"I told him 'I can't stop it. The suit's in control.'"

"Why did they need to brainwash you if the suit could fire on its own?" Amy didn't wait for an answer. "The suit never could operate on its own. The whole aborted time line happened after you retreated into your head. You created it, and in your head you can control the suit."

Tears are leaking out of the corners of River's eyes. She whispers. "Are you telling me that time line never happened? It wasn't real?"

Amy replies. "To paraphrase a wise, old wizard, 'It happened inside your head . . . but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?' You are special River Song. Your mind is incredible. Just because the time line was in your head doesn't mean it wasn't real. I was there, the Doctor was there, Rory was there, even Madame Kovarian was there. Your mind is so strong you ripped a hole in reality and brought us all with you."

"Then the Doctor is alive! He showed me his plan."

"He lied, River. He believed that he had to die, and he would never risk sacrificing all of reality on the chance he was wrong. He was in your mind, but unlike the rest of us he knew he was in your mind. And since he knew that he could shape reality too. He showed you himself in the Teselecta so you would let him go."

"So that's it? He's dead?"

"He's dead, but there is a little more to the story of his death. I can show you. This is one of my memories from the day the Doctor died."

Once again they're standing on the shore of Lake Silencio. The water shimmers and the sand reflects the near blinding sunlight. Amy faces the lake and points out the ripples that announce the presence of past River in the astronaut suit. Everything happens as River remembers it, she fires, a pause, then two more shots in quick succession, the Doctor starts to regenerate, she fires again, and he falls back unmoving on the sand. River watches her former self wade back into the water until Amy pulls River to face the Doctor and whispers, "watch."

Past Amy is running finally free of River and Rory's attempt to hold her back. She falls to her knees next to the Doctor and when she touches him a little shock runs through her and everyone and everything except her freezes in that moment. A hologram of the Doctor appears.

The hologram speaks. "Amy, the body is me and I am really and truly dead, but I still need you to do something for me. When you touched my body you activated a temporary time bubble. In my top left pocket is a copy of your wristwatch. You need to take it and wind it back ten minutes, and after this message concludes press your thumb to the face of the watch. It's a modified Gallifreyan time ring and it has enough power for a single round trip. You need to take my body to the Tardis. Hold my hand as you press the watch and I will be transported with you. You'll appear in the medbay where there is a stasis chamber set up. Put my body in the chamber. You are not to try to bring me back. The stasis chamber is just to keep my body preserved until the Tardis can safely destroy it."

"Then you need to go to the console room. I've left a Teselecta duplicate of myself on the floor. I've also left a message for you with the Tardis. After you collect your message grab the hand of the Teselecta. You must do this before the ten minutes on your watch is up. As soon as you run out of time you'll be brought back here less than a second after you left. You won't remember this message until much later if you remember it at all."

The hologram pauses, and then softly says, "Amy, I'm so sorry."

With that the hologram flickers out of existence and Amy winds the watch and presses her thumb to its face. She and the Doctor's body disappear to be replaced almost immediately with Amy and the Doctor's replica. Time restarts with no indication that anyone there had noticed anything unusual. The memory dissolves and Amy and River are once again in the garden.

Amy starts speaking before River can even ask. "He wanted his body replaced by the Teselecta for two reasons. He wasn't going to risk any of his DNA being left where it could be taken, and he knew Silence would scan the area and pick up traces of the Teselecta. He wanted them to think he was still alive. He hoped it would help protect us."

"And now River, I have a confession to make. I didn't find you just to rescue you. You have something I need."