A/N: So here's chapter 3! I had wanted to get this out a bit quicker, but I live in New Jersey and we were hit pretty hard by last week's storm. Everything's fine, but it's just been a bit crazy with clean up and all. I'm hoping to have chapter four up within the next week or so, again. Thanks to everyone who's been following and favoriting and reviewing! It's been very helpful to have such positive feedback from you all.
And again, none of this is mine and everything actually belongs to the BBC. I'm just playing with the characters a bit.
Chapter 3 – Breaking the News
The Doctor and River descended the stairs slowly, then each took a deep breath, glanced at each other, and went in search of Brian. The lounge was empty, so they walked down the hall to the kitchen, where they found him at the helm of a steaming tea kettle, pouring some into three cups. He must have heard them approach because, without turning his back, he spoke, "Figured you two would like some tea."
"Er-thank you, Brian," the Doctor said rather stupidly. "Tea would be great. We'll just –erm…wait for you in the lounge then?"
"Yeah, that's fine. I'll just be a mo'," he said, still facing away from them.
The Doctor looked helplessly at River, who simply shrugged and dragged him by the hand out of the kitchen and back into the lounge. She settled the both of them on the sofa. He made sure, however, to sit as far away from her as the furniture would allow. He didn't need Brian getting any ideas about what they were up to in here. River saw this and rolled her eyes, but leaned back, making herself comfortable.
Barely a minute later, Brian followed them into the room, a tea tray in his hands. "I just brought all the fixings out, hope you don't mind. I remember how you like your tea, Doctor, but I didn't know about you, Miss- er Ms.-?" he led off, questioningly, looking at River with a still embarrassed smile on his face.
"Professor, actually," River said with a smile, all traces of her previous embarrassment gone. This was the River he was used to- sexily confident. "Professor River Song, but you can call me River, of course," she said brightly, reaching out a hand to shake, which Brian deftly took before sitting down on the chair across from them.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, River," he said politely as he took hold of his teacup and gestured for them to do the same. Once they had, he leaned back in his chair and studied them warily before cautiously asking, "So you - er- travel with the Doctor, then?"
"Not nearly often, enough," the Doctor grumbled, almost to himself, and River laughed softly.
"I'm his wife," she said with a fond glance towards him.
This seemed to surprise Brian, who gaped for half a second. "Wife?" he questioned the Doctor. "You never mentioned you were married!"
The Doctor crossed his arms grumpily. "Yes, well you never asked, did you?" He didn't want to discuss this. It was private and there were more important matters to discuss, matters he very much wished could be avoided.
"It's something we tend to keep a bit quiet," River told Brian. "And what I'm sure he meant before was that yes, obviously, I do travel with him, but not always. Usually, I'm out there doing my own thing while he's off having his adventures."
"I see," Brian said, but it was evident from the look on his face that he didn't.
It was then that the Doctor decided to speak and get the humiliating part over with. "About what you just - er - walked in on- I-I mean, you didn't walk in on us, we were... done... by then… but- ow!" He broke off abruptly when River slapped the back of his head. "River!"
"Quiet, Sweetie," she said firmly and looked apologetically at Brian, who had a faint blush creeping back up his face again. "What I'm sure this bumbling idiot meant to say was that we're really very sorry that you walked in and saw what you did. I'm sure it was quite a surprise," she glanced at the Doctor, who was still rubbing his head and muttering darkly under his breath.
"Suppose it was a bit of a shock," Brian laughed shakily. "Wasn't expecting anyone to be home. Rory and Amy have been off traveling with him there for about a week. Walked upstairs to make sure everything was in order. Saw the bedroom door open, thought maybe they'd come home. So, yeah, bit of a surprise."
"Yes, well, as I was trying to say before some very rude person slapped me... again," the Doctor said petulantly towards River, "We really are quite sorry and it won't happen again. Quite inappropriate, really, if you think about it." He stopped, noticing the warning look River was shooting him.
"No need to apologize to me," Brian said with another laugh. "Not my bedroom, was it? Where are Amy and Rory, by the way? Pop off to the shops, I reckon? There's not much to eat in that kitchen, if they were having you two over."
And there it was, the perfect segue into the conversation the Doctor desperately wished he could avoid for another century or two. He looked at River, lost. She reached over, squeezed his knee reassuringly and said quietly, "No, Brian, they're not."
Brian's eyes darkened mournfully and turned onto the Doctor, who knew that Brian understood the implication in River's words. He saw that instant veil of sadness and grief pass over his face. "What happened?" he asked quietly, his voice catching with unshed tears and betraying only a tiny amount of anger and blame behind the words.
The Doctor sighed deeply as grief welled up inside of him once more. "It's complicated. Basically, they were… sent back in time, after creating a paradox, to somewhere that I can't rescue them from. They're stuck now. I'm sorry."
"But," River interjected quickly, "they're together and they're happy. I promise you."
Brian seemed to take this in. He was now leaning forward in his chair, hands clasped together in front of his face. They heard his erratic breathing and a couple of shaky sobs before he took a breath and seemed to nod once to himself. He just sat there for a minute, not saying anything.
The Doctor was at a loss for words, which was almost unheard of for him. The guilt inside him, which had started to hide while he had been comforting River earlier, was rearing its ugly head and raging once more.
Amy and Rory were gone, lost forever, and it was all his fault. He should have ushered them back into the TARDIS immediately after popping back to the cemetery. He should have stopped reading that blasted book. He should have left Amy and Rory at home in Leadworth where they belonged. He should have never crashed the TARDIS into little Amelia's garden.
But no, he had to be selfish, like always, and kept going back for the Ponds, ripping them out of their lives again and again and again until, finally, it had become permanent. Now Brian had to face the knowledge that he would never see either his son or daughter-in-law again.
The Doctor knew the feeling of losing a child- all of his children, his grandchildren, they were all gone. That was a feeling he wouldn't wish upon anyone. He always hated himself in moments like this, where a parent had to face the prospect of a child never coming home because of him.
He tried, he always tried to bring everyone home safely, but he'd known for centuries now that something was bound to happen to his Ponds; that eventually, time and fate would catch up with them- how many times can a human face death and destruction and still come out unscathed?
"How do you mean 'they were sent back in time?'" Brian asked suddenly, jarring him out of his dark thoughts. Brian had lowered his hands to reveal his blotchy-red face, streaked with tears. "By who? And why can't you just go get them in the TARDIS?"
River glanced at him and, thankfully, took up the mantel of speech. "It was the Weeping Angels," she said quietly. "They're an alien race that disguises themselves as statues whenever you're looking at them. But the moment you're not, they're something else entirely. They can move as long as they aren't being watched and they're fast."
She looked at Brian, who still had tears in his eyes but seemed to understand what she was saying, as much as possible at least. "That's when they attack. They touch you and send you to the past. Let you live out your life there, while they feed off the energy of your unlived life back home."
The Doctor listened as she spoke, making the Weeping Angels sound almost reasonable, trying to ensure Brian understood what had happened, but he could tell that talking about it was paining her. It would pain him as well, of course, but he couldn't let her do it all on her own. She'd had her turn; it was now time for his. Besides, it was his responsibility to tell Brian exactly what had happened. So, he took the hand River was still resting on his knee into his own and stroked it with the other. Then he continued the story himself, while River glanced at him with a mixture of relief and concern on her face.
"They got Rory first," he said quietly, his head down, staring at River's hand in his, the same one he had healed less than a day ago, and did his best to fight off the rising tide of emotions in his chest. "I'd taken the two of them to New York in 2012. We were just enjoying a quiet day in the park and Rory went to get coffee. That's when they took him. Amy and I were able to determine when he had been sent to, and after an extremely bumpy ride into a time distortion field, landed in 1938."
Brian seemed to think on this, his head bowed and knuckles to his lips. "How could you tell where he'd been taken? Or that anything had happened at all?" he asked, confused, with pain evident in his voice.
The Doctor groaned inwardly. That would take some explaining and would probably confuse the man even more. Then, it would start him asking questions about River and he wasn't sure she was ready for that part of the conversation quite yet. "Well, see, there was this book… I was reading it and suddenly Rory and River were in the book."
"In the book? What does that mean?" Brian asked. "How could he be in a book? What book? Where did you get it?"
"I found it!" he huffed indignantly.
"Found it?" River interjected sharply. "Where?"
"In my jacket pocket, of course! Where else?" he asked, impatiently. Who cared where he found the book? It didn't matter right now.
"And how did a book about Rory end up in your jacket pocket?" Brian asked again, the confusion he was feeling masking the grief in his eyes.
"How should I know?" he exclaimed. "It's not the first time I've found something unusual in my pocket, you know! I've stopped asking about it!" He stopped to address River, "Considering the cover and title, I assumed it was something you left behind the last time you were on the TARDIS, after the Fourth Moon of Nax'il!" He stopped ranting and grinned at the memory of their night together after that particular adventure.
"Spoilers," she hushed him.
"You bet it's spoilers- just wait 'till you get there," he flirted with a smirk. "Very enjoyable encounter, if I do say so myself."
She smirked back with a twinkle in her eye before glancing back at Brian, who was sitting there, lost depressed, confused, and back to looking more than a tad bit uncomfortable. "Maybe it's not the time for that particular brand of spoilers, Sweetie."
He glanced up, remembering they weren't alone and were, in fact, in the middle of ripping a man's heart out. The grin slipped from his face. "Erm… yes… right… anyway, basically, Brian, River here wrote the book. Or will write it in the future, that is. Anyway, Rory met River in 1938. She was already there, investigating the Angels. Amy and I met up with them and, long story short, Amy and Rory ended up jumping off a building to destroy a paradox," he paused here, which judging from the horrified look on Brian's face, maybe wasn't the best idea he'd ever had. River rolled her eyes and continued in his stead, quick to ease the pain of Brian's misunderstanding.
"Which destroyed the paradox and brought us all back to 2012, where we belonged," she said quickly, while the Doctor shot her and Brian a properly chastised look. "We were about to go out and celebrate when a surviving Angel took Rory again. But this time, because of the paradox, we couldn't go back to get him." There were tears in her eyes once more and the Doctor could hear her voice wavering. He grasped her hand tightly in his own as tears sprang to his own eyes. He saw her close her eyes for just a second and take a deep breath. "Amy couldn't stand the thought of living without him. She let the Angel take her. So they could be together. And they were. They both lived long, happy lives. Just separate from the rest of us."
They all lapsed into silence for a few minutes, as Brian took the news in and they all mulled over what had happened. Brian sniffed a few times, wiped away the tears streaming down his face, and finally spoke. "Well… I guess that's all I can ask for, given the circumstances. I won't pretend to understand exactly what happened. Paradoxes, and time distortions, and statues that move. But I think I've got the gist of it," He sniffed again, was quiet a moment, took another deep breath, and said, looking up for the first time, "You're sure they were ok? And together? Happy?"
"Yes," River answered. "At some point in their future, Amy left a letter for the Doctor to find, right after they disappeared. She assured him that they were just fine and happy and definitely together."
Brian nodded and was silent once more, until the Doctor, overcome with grief and guilt, spoke. "I'm sorry, Brian. I promised to bring them home safe and I didn't. I lost them and I'm sorry."
Brian seemed to consider him for a moment, then said, "I know you did what you could. I know it's not your fault. To be honest, I sort of expected something like this to happen. Just not so soon. I had hoped this would happen years off and I'd have more time," he sighed wistfully, trying to keep his composure together. "But I also didn't expect it to happen like this. They're all right. That's something. That's what important, I guess."
He paused, and then shook his head, as if trying to clear his thoughts. "So… Mrs.- er- Professor Song… River… did you know them well? Amy and Rory?" he asked her. "You seem to, but I don't think they've ever even mentioned you. But I can't help feeling that you look a bit familiar."
"Yes, I knew Amy and Rory quite well. I've known them longer than you'd believe," River said with a small laugh that didn't reach her eyes. "I'm in a picture here and there around the house, you might have seen at some point or another. We were quite close, the three of us."
She paused. "Well, the four of us, of course but he came later," she said with a glance at the Doctor, who merely sat up from his slumped over position on the sofa and went to straighten is bowtie, before he remembered he wasn't wearing one.
"So you didn't meet them through him, then?" Brian asked quizzically.
"Well, sort of," she shrugged, "but no, not really."
"I don't understand," Brian said, a completely befuddled look on his face.
"It really is quite a long story, Brian," the Doctor said steadily, glancing at his wife. "Very complicated and not the easiest to hear. Or to tell, for that matter."
"Please," Brian begged quietly, "if it has to do with Rory and Amy, I would like to hear it. I can't see my boy again. I'd love to hear anything you could tell me about him and Amy. Maybe make it seem, for a bit, like they're still here."
The Doctor sighed deeply, for what felt like the thousandth time today and felt River do the same next to him. He looked over at her, warily. "What do you say, dear; feel like telling your story?"
River glanced from him to Brian and stared at him for a minute, studying his face, seeing the slightly hopeful expression on his face, waiting for just one more story to feel connected to his son. Seeming to come to a decision, he saw her steel herself before saying, "Well, with a request like that, how can I refuse?"
The Doctor looked at her, ignoring Brian for now. River was more important, and despite his advice to her earlier, really didn't want her doing this if she wasn't ready. "Are you sure?" he asked her firmly. "All of it?"
She pulled her hand free from his hand gently and patted his twice, then pulled her own back into her lap. "Might as well," she said softly, then with all of her usual confidence, said, "Now, Brian, as the Doctor said, it's a very complicated and difficult story, nothing like what you're expecting, I can guarantee you. Are you sure you want to hear it?"
Brian didn't even hesitate. "Yes."
The Doctor and River shared a glance, taking comfort in each other before delving into this particular story. Neither of them could be sure how he would take any of the news they were about to give him or exactly how to start telling him.
He wished he could make this easier for her, but he knew she would have to deal with it sooner or later. So, he resolved instead to just sit and listen, jump in when he could, and simply be there to be the support-hold he'd promised himself earlier to be for her.
He decided the least he could do right now was to get the ball rolling and start the story himself. He just wasn't exactly sure how to do that, so he said, mostly seriously but, hoping to break the grief-filled tension in the room a bit, with a giddy sort of jaunt to his voice, "So! Where do we start, then?"