A little while later, they were back at Guido's house. Evy sat perched on the table. Next to her was Amy, who had just been assured that the bite on her neck wouldn't do her any harm. Across from them were Rory and Guido. All of them watched as the Doctor rapidly paced around the room.
"Argh! I need to think!" he ground out to himself, "Come on brain, think, think, think!" He sat down at the head of the table.
"If they're fish people, it explains why they hate the sun," Amy suggested, her speech a little hard to understand due to the candy in her mouth that the Doctor had given her.
The Doctor swiftly put his hand over her mouth. "Stop talking, brain thinking, hush," he ordered.
"It's the school thing that I don't understand," Rory confessed.
The Doctor covered his mouth as well. "Stop talking, brain thinking, hush," he ordered again.
"I say we take the fight to them!" Guido jumped in. Evy rolled her eyes. Yeah, that'll work! She thought.
"Ah, ah, ah!" the Doctor interrupted him, giving him a warning look.
"What?"
"Ah!"
This time, the Doctor gave Rory a pointed look. Rory, rolling his eyes, placed his own hand over Guido's mouth.
"Her planet dies, so they flee through a crack in time and space and end up here, then she closes off the city, and one by one, starts changing the people into creatures like her to start a new gene pool," the Doctor summarized. "Got it, but then what?"
Evy was deep in thought too. "Well, they're from the sea so they can't survive on land forever. Not without adapting at least, but I doubt they'll do that. It would take generation after generation. Decades, centuries even."
Rory wrenched the Doctor's hand away from his mouth. "Why aren't you telling her to shut up?" he demanded.
"Because she's actually making a very good point," the Doctor smiled at her, placing his hand back over Rory's mouth.
"Anyway, if she's not going to adapt to our conditions, what is she going to do?"
"She'd want to make the city habitable," Evy said, thinking out loud. She caught the Doctor's eye. "Don't you remember that she said 'I shall bend the heavens to save my race?'"
"Bend the heavens…" the Doctor recalled. He placed his hands on top of Rory and Amy's heads and moved them down, then right back up again.
"Bend the heavens."
The Doctor and Evy came to the same conclusion at the exact same time.
"She's going to sink Venice!" they both breathed, eyes wide.
"She…she's going to sink Venice?" Guido repeated in disbelief as the Doctor lowered his hands from Amy and Rory's heads.
"And repopulate it with the girls she's transformed," the Doctor confirmed.
"You can't repopulate somewhere with just women," Rory objected, "You need…blokes."
Amy and Evy turned to look at each-other, remembering what Rosanna had said to them.
"She's got blokes!" Amy cried, causing all eyes to shoot to her.
"Where?" the Doctor questioned.
"In the canal," Evy replied. "She said to us there are ten thousand husbands waiting in the water. Possibly because only the male offspring survived the journey here."
The Doctor nodded, agreeing with her. "She's got ten thousand children swimming around the canals, waiting for mum to make them some compatible girlfriends!"
He and the others grimaced. "Ugh. I mean, I've been around a bit, but really that's…that's…ugh."
Above them came the sounds of clattering and thumping.
"The people upstairs are very noisy," he chuckled, trying to relieve the tension as everyone looked up at the ceiling.
"There aren't any people upstairs," Guido slowly corrected.
"I knew you were going to say that," the Doctor groaned, "Did anyone else know he was gonna say that?"
"Is it the vampires?" Rory whispered.
"Like I said, they're not vampires," the Doctor said as he stood and pulled out his UV torch, "Fish from space."
"Or Sisters of the Water if you want to be more technical," Evy quipped. At least her wit wasn't frightened by fish vampires.
Right at that moment, the window closest to the table shattered. Everyone jumped up to see several of the girls from the school at the window, hissing at them as they bared their fangs.
"Aren't we on the second floor?" Rory cried just as another window shattered. The Doctor ran over to it, baring his UV light to keep the girls back. He then grabbed the sonic screwdriver and waved it across the girls. Just as Evy's mind bypassed the perception filter, the sonic revealed the true forms of the girls.
"What's happened to them?" Guido questioned.
"There's nothing left of them. They've been fully converted," the Doctor explained. He stared at the girls in shock, as this was the first time he had actually seen their true form.
"Blimey, fish from space have never been so…buxom."
"Okay, move!" The Doctor shouted after a moment.
"Wait-" Evy began but she quickly found herself being pushed down the stairs, nearly plunging down them in the process. Amy was in front of her, Rory just a step behind.
Behind Rory was the Doctor, with Guido behind him. As they ran, Evy vaguely heard Guido demand the Doctor give him the lamp, which he did. She looked back briefly to see Guido keeping the converted girls chasing them at bay.
Once reaching the bottom of the stairs, everyone practically threw themselves out the door…except for one person.
"Stay away from the door, Doctor, Evy!" Guido shouted once they were out before slamming the door shut.
Evy and the Doctor immediately ran back over to it.
"No!" the Doctor objected, pounding on the door. "Guido! What are you doing?"
"We're not leaving you!" Evy yelled, furiously trying to unlock the door. "What are you doing?" She whirled over to the Doctor. "Use the sonic!"
The Doctor did just as she asked. "Argh, bolted!" he complained, forced to pounding on the door again. "Guido!" Suddenly, the possibility of what Guido was about to do occurred to them.
"Gunpowder," they breathed, looking at each other.
Instantly, the Doctor grabbed Evy's arm and the two ran as fast as they could away from the house. They reached an archway just as the house exploded with a loud KABOOM, sending ash, smoke, and debris everywhere.
Just as the house exploded, the Doctor threw Evy to the ground, throwing himself on top of her to shield her from the flying concrete and broken glass.
"Doctor! Evy!" Amy cried frightfully as she and Rory darted over to them. The Doctor rolled off of Evy while she grunted and clutched her now twice bruised abdomen.
"Ugh...Twice in one day? The universe must love me," Evy joked.
Rory shook his head at her. "Don't even joke about that," he said, helping her to her feet as the Doctor got up beside her.
As she was helped to her feet, Evy happened to look up at the sky. She watched as the sky turned from bright blue to dark gray, thunder clouds rumbling out of nowhere.
"Look up," she instructed, pointing upwards. The others followed her gaze and the Doctor grimly remarked,
"Rosanna's initiating the final phase."
"We need to stop her," Amy said, looking over at the ruined house sadly. "Come on!"
"No, no, no," the Doctor shot back. "Get back to the TARDIS." He turned and gave Evy a pointed look. "All of you."
"You can't stop her on your own!" Amy argued.
The Doctor glowered at them. "We don't discuss this!" he shouted, approaching them. "I tell you to do something, Amy, Evy, and you do it!"
Amy's lip trembled in anger, her breathing getting heavier as she gave him a hard look. She did the only thing she could to stop herself from shouting back. She grabbed Evy, who was in no better state than she was, and stormed off, Rory a step close behind.
Evy subconsciously led them to the only place she knew how to get to in Venice. They hopped onto the railing above the canal, right across from the Calvierri school. They looked up at the sky as lightning flashed through the clouds. People were screaming and running around, unable to figure out what had caused the split second storm.
"Oh my God! What is going on?!" Amy yelled over the noise
"The sky," Rory gasped. "It's like it's boiling."
They stayed for one more loud clap of thunder before Evy pulled them away.
"Come on," she said. "Let's get out of here."
"What? We're not going to just leave him are we?" Amy asked, falling into step with her, Rory on her other side.
"No, we're not. But we can help him in another way."
"I'm listening," Amy answered almost immediately, trusting her completely.
"If we're going to get back to him safely I think the TARDIS will be the best option. Don't worry. I'm a better driver than the Doctor," she joked, earning a laugh from Rory.
Amy nodded at her plan, opening her mouth to ask another question, but she ran into Rory's back. Looking up at where her gaze ended, Evy saw a dark figure approaching in the alleyway.
When it stepped into the light, they saw it was the Signora's most precious son, Francesco. He was drenched from head to toe, walking towards them with a smirk, his mouth filled with fangs.
Once he caught sight of Evy, his grin turned even more mischievous. "Ah, the hybrid."
A smile began to tug at the said Time Lady's lips as her gaze never faltered from Francesco, earning a look from Amy.
"Well," Evy grinned, readying a fighting stance. "This should be interesting."
Although, a certain bumbling nurse had different ideas. In a panic, Rory did the first thing he could think of. Grabbing two candle holders from a pile of rubbish on the side, he formed a cross in Francesco's face.
"Amy, Evy, run!"
They all shared similar confused glances before the wannabe-vampire knocked the candles out of his hands. He pushed Rory to the side, forcing both girls to have their backs against the wall.
"This way, you freak! Don't!" Rory tried to bait him, but Francesco did not stop. "This…this…this way you big, stupid, great…Spongebob!"
Amy forced her eyes shut when he was merely inches away, clinging onto her sister for dear life.
"The only thing I've seen uglier than you is…your mum!"
That stopped him. Francesco froze, nearly on top of the girls as he pivoted back around walking towards Rory, who was spluttering under the pressure.
"Did you just say something about Mummy?"
Rory glanced at Amy and Evy, whose eyes were wide in their heads, then he grabbed the first thing he saw. To his left there was a broom leaning on the staircase. He quickly grabbed it and thrust it at Francesco.
Evy slapped a hand on her face. I havr never been so excited to be killed by a fish from space.
"Hah!" he yelled, much like the Doctor had with his ultraviolet light. When that didn't work, he began to twirl it around, like some cross between a baton, a sword, and nun chucks.
Evy let out a groan as he started to make sounds remarkably similar to a lightsaber. His spins soon came to a halt as Francesco pulled out a proper sword from the sheath at his waist.
Rory's mouth dropped open, hands up in defense as he gasped at the weapon. Francesco then leapt forward, striking at Rory. He only dodged it by an inch, making Amy shriek in fright as blocked each attack with his measly broom.
Evy yanked on Amy's sleeve, easily gaining her attention. With a silent conversation in their gestures, they nodded to each other before they started to inch back to the alley's opening, Rory unintentionally following them as Francesco bombarded him with attacks.
"Careful!" Amy called, and Rory only just brought the broom up in time to block an overhead attack.
Following directions, Rory thrust his fake sword forward with a battle cry, only managing to scratch Francesco's chest with the bristles.
"I'm gonna go help," Evy muttered to her, "Cover me."
With a confirming nod, Evy ran back the way they had came, seeing stray people wandering around screaming at the ever looming sky. It was only a few seconds before she found a fit, sharp weapon for their situation.
She grabbed it, quickly, sprinting back to her family. As she rounded the corner, Rory tripped backward, no longer carrying the broom. Francesco's arms were raised, sword above, ready for the kill. She ran over as fast as she could.
As Francesco's hand was about to come down, Evy slid the sword dangerously close to his neck threateningly.
"Hey! Pick on someone your own age!" She yelled and the not-vampire turned to her, directing his attention away from Rory long enough for him to escape.
Francesco surveyed his new opponent with a grin. "Hm... Let me guess. Three hundred twenty nine?"
Tired of waiting, Evy stood up straight into a fighting stance. Francesco didn't waste any time and took a hard jab at her. Evy came to focus in enough time for the swipe not to puncture her shoulder, butit did cut a large slice through its side.
Evy winced as she watched the ruby red soak through the long-sleeve of her polo, small drops starting to make their way down her arm.
Something at the sight of herself wounded set off a switch in Evy's mind. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as her body started to move on its own.
"Three hundred twenty eight, in fact," she hissed, before letting out a harsh grunt, swinging her sword across the Francesco's cheekbone to make a small - but deep cut.
He stepped back in surprise, brushing his fingers over the wound before letting out a small chuckle. "Very good."
He swiped at her legs and she jumped back, narrowly missing his stomach as he stepped out of the way.
"I knew you were different the moment you broke in," he said, taking a jab at her arm in return.
He missed as she stepped to her right, trying to take another swipe at his head.
"With your looks and skills, you'll make such a pretty Saturnyne," he told her when she missed, clashing his sword with hers and backing her up against the wall.
Evy shrunk back as his warm breath hit her face. "And so…spirited. I think I'll ask Mummy to make you my bride."
She shook in anger, letting out a grunt as she kicked him in the stomach, causing him to stumble back a few feet. He snarled at the jab and Evy braced herself for a blade to pierce her body. But then...
"Hey! Mummy's boy!"
Evy had just enough time to look up before she had to squint at the harsh flash of light that passed her eyes. Francesco looked up too, directly into the beam of sunlight that was streaming down from above.
Before she realized what was going on, a gut wrenching scream hit her ears, and she started to cough as the air around her was suddenly filled with the dust of the Saturnynian.
"Woah," Evy breathed out, attempting to wave out the dust with her.
"That was lucky," Amy panted, clicking her compact mirror shut.
"Yeah. Thanks, sis," she wheezed, wiping some dust of her clothes.
"Not bad yourself," she nodded, still in a daze. Then she turned to Rory, who had found a place next to her on the staircase. "Why did you make the sign of the cross, you numpty?!"
"Oh, oh, right! I'm being reviewed now, am I?"
He threw his hands up, but they'd hardly fallen back to his sides when she grabbed him and started snogging him. Evy smiled at them, part of her wanting to tell them to get a room, or to at least let each other breath.
But she didn't because in that moment she realized Amy may have finally understood. They were together, just the way it was supposed to be.
As they snogged, Evy looked down at her arm and inhaled sharply. Her whole shoulder smarted, and what had just ensued had done no good for the bruises that littered her body. The gash was not as deep as she thought it has been, but it has still done its damage, the skin around it swollen.
Blimey, Evy thought, trying to wipe of the excess blood. Where's regeneration when you need it?
Assuming Amy and Rory had not seen her get slashed by some miracle, otherwise Nurse Williams would have been doting over her, she decided to hide it. There was no time for them to worry over her in a time like this.
Quickly and quietly, she tore the bottom half of her long-sleeve, tying it in a secure knot over the wound. It was thick and long enough so it covered any past and future blood stains. After a minute more of snogging, Amy pulled away.
"Now we go help the Doctor."
She smiled at Rory as she pushed past, hopping down the stairs and back to the school. Evy giggled, putting her sword back in her hand as she giggled at a shell shocked Rory.
"Righty-o," he agreed, with a dreamy expression.
With one more chuckle, Evy walked up and pulled him down by the hand, both of them jogging after Amy to catch up. The jogging soon turned into a sprint as the skies opened up.
An animalistic rain began to fall, the sounds of the drops mixing with the horrified screams of the Venetian citizens.
"How are we going to get in?" Amy shouted over the noise, realizing guards would still going to be prowling all around. But the problem was soon solved for them.
As the trio approached the gate it swung wide open with a huddle of men before it. While the Venetians were distracted, the Ponds quickly managed to slip through the gates.
Soon they found themselves skidding into the throne room, the Doctor, almost too conveniently running in from another entrance.
He didn't look very surprised to see them but he wasn't happy about it. He nearly pushed his way through them when he got on level.
"Get out! I need to stabilize the storm!" he shouted, walking over to the throne set up in the middle of the room. The back of it was thrown open and glowing with all sorts of whirring, alien technology.
"We're not leaving you," Rory said immediately, causing the Doctor to strut back, getting right in his face.
"Right. So one minute it's, 'You make people a danger to themselves,' and the next it's 'We're not leaving you.'"
Evy grimaced as Amy stiffened next to her, having no knowledge of Rory's previous explosion on the Doctor.
"But if one of you gets squashed or blown up or eaten, then-" he didn't get to finish as he fell back.
The floor began to shake violently, sending everyone flying around like ragdolls. Rubble fell from the ceiling as they were tossed around, forced to fall and roll on the floor screaming.
Evy gasped in pain as she fell, landing right on the fresh wound that Francesco had given her as well as the bruises on her stomach.
Everyone toppled to the floor trying to retain their balance and Evy quickly rolled over to the side as a ceiling chunk fell two feet away from her, grunting as her wound pressed against the marble floor.
Once the shaking stopped a few seconds later, Rory asked,
"What was that?"
"Nothing," the Doctor answered, obviously lying. As he helped Evy up, he added, "Bit of an earthquake."
"An earthquake?!" Amy cried.
"Manipulate the elements, it can trigger earthquakes," the Doctor explained, "But don't worry about them."
"No?" Rory wondered, expecting something bad if the Doctor had told them not to worry about something as horrific as earthquakes.
"No. Worry about the tidal waves caused by the earthquake," the Doctor replied casually before running back to the throne.
"Right!" Evy said, readying another plan. "Rosanna's throne is the control hub, but she's locked the program, so tear out every single wire and circuit in the throne."
"Go crazy. Hit with a stick!" The Doctor added, "We need to shut it down and re-route control to the secondary hub."
"Which I'm guessing will also be the generator," Evy jumped in.
The Doctor nodded with a grin before running out the room as Amy and Rory set to begin their work. Evy followed him and nearly bumped into him when he suddenly stopped. He whirled around and looked at her curiously.
"Let me guess," he said dryly. "If I tell you to stay and help them, you probably won't?"
"Lovely to see that you're finally figuring out how my brain works," Evy grinned.
He smirked down at her. "I doubt I'm touching more than the surface," he quipped.
Evy nodded and grabbed his hand. "Never thought I'd say this, but, Doctor?"
"Yeah?"
"Allons-y!"
The two sprinted up the stairs, pumped on adrenaline and a sense of saving others. Upon reaching the bottom of the bell-tower, the two spotted a strange alien machine that had two tubes running up the columns of the tower. The two staggered upon hearing the deafening bell above them, the Doctor running the sonic screwdriver over the weird contraption.
"Come on!" He shouted, grabbing Evy's hand before whisking her up another flight of stairs.
The bell was even louder up here, which made sense as it was directly above them, its cord long since gone. Evy could feel her ears ringing.
"Lift me up there!" she commanded.
The Doctor knelt down, entwining his fingers with the palms facing upwards, creating a step for Evy. Placing her hands on his shoulders for balance, Evy pushed up and let the Doctor hoist her up by the waist before going down to her legs. She grabbed the pendulum and nearly swung out sideways before the Doctor's grip on her tightened.
Evy clenched the pendulum tightly, keeping it still. After a moment, it silenced. "Got it," she said before landing both feet on the floor.
"Brilliant! Now," he looked over to one of the tubes that led up to the bell, "let's see what damage this is doing."
Without another word, he climbed up onto the edge of a window and shimmied around a column, gripping it all the while. Evy gaped at him.
"Doctor!" she yelled. She dove over to the window but didn't try to pull him back in. She really didn't want to cause him to fall to the ground below. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
The Doctor didn't answer her, instead focusing on climbing up to the roof. Evy leaned out the window as far as she could get without the rain hitting her, and watched him until he vanished out of sight. She sighed and hurried back down the stairs. She knew that the only way to get any answers was to watch him herself.
Evy winced as the rain pelted against her fresh cut and she quickly ducked under the awning of a flower shop. Around her, people were screaming and running and she caught a bit of somebody saying that it was the Almighty. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
A little distance ahead, she could see Amy and Rory staring up at something high above. Evy followed their gaze and her eyes quickly widened.
The Doctor was right on the roof, in the very heart of the storm. They tensely watched as he fiddled with a giant gold ball on the roof. Squinting, they saw that the ball had opened up, revealing something she couldn't see from her distance.
Whatever it was had to be key in stopping the storm though, as she could see the Doctor hesitantly studying it. Then, a second later, the Doctor did something, for the rain suddenly ceased, the clouds vanished, and birds began chirping. Evy grinned as the people around her began cheering and clapping, running over to Amy and Rory.
"He did it!" She threw her arms around Amy and Rory. They laughed along with her, spinning around before pulling each other into a proper snog.
Evy ignored them, clapping obnoxiously for the Time Lord at the the top of the tower. The Doctor spotted them from his post, smiling as he began to widely gesture in between the machine and himself.
His arms fell half way when he saw Amy and Rory had become 'occupied' with…each other. Evy stood on her toes and waved high to get his attention. He waved back with excited swings, pointing to himself and the machine.
She couldn't hold back a laugh as she gave him two thumbs up. He enthusiastically did the same, the removal of his hands nearly making him fall. Evy cringed, but it soon turned to laughter as he caught himself, straightening his bowtie as if nothing happened.
He gave her one last wave and pointed to the ground, showing the he was going to descend. She nodded again, giving him another smile before turning around to her friends, who were still snogging. After reminding them to breathe, they pulled away with smiles and giggles.
They waited for another fifteen minutes before the Doctor found them. As soon as he was in sight, Amy sprinted over to him, hugging him tightly. Evy and Rory followed, large smiles on their faces.
"Oh, you brilliant idiot," she told him, ruffling his soaking wet hair. He simply smiled, batting away her hand to give her a proper hug.
Amy already knew that this would be one of their awkward hugs where the Doctor would hold her tightly, but Evy would just stand there, blushing and frozen by his touch.
After all, she wasn't much of a hugging type back in Leadworth. And if any man would try to lunge themselves at her, they should be prepared to hit the floor. Hard.
So why would Evy let the Doctor hug her? The only answer to the question is-
Amy was snapped out of her thought when the Doctor hastily pulled away from the hug and grabbed Evy's hand, dashing off to who-knows-where before anyone could protest.
"He has got to stop doing that," Rory complained and Amy giggled, deciding to head back to the TARDIS.
~x~
"Where are we going?" Evy asked as the Doctor pulled her along.
He didn't answer for they soon came to another door that led outside. He let go of her hand and raced over to an open archway. Evy followed him and stopped dead in her tracks as she saw a thin walkway going over the canal.
At the end of it was Rosanna, now only dressed in a thin white nightdress, the rest of her perception-filtered clothes tossed beside her. Evy looked at her, surprised to see that her mind wasn't pushing past the perception filter, until she noticed the non-working device lying on the ground.
Rosanna was permanently stuck in human form.
"Rosanna!" the Doctor called out.
Rosanna didn't turn around, instead staring vacantly into the water. "One city to save an entire species," she said, sounding defeated. "Was that so much to ask?"
The Doctor stepped towards her. "I told you, you can't go back and change time. You mourn… but you live. I know, Rosanna, I did it."
Evy swallowed thickly. Seeing the Doctor like this broke her hearts. She had always done everything she could to keep his mind off it - heck, she became part Time Lord! - but she knew there was no way to avoid it.
She thought about the night after the Starship U.K. adventure, when they had been talking and when she had looked so deeply into his eyes. She remembered thinking they looked old and haunted and that they exposed his many years. She also remembered seeing so much regret in them. Sometimes... she wished she could just take that burden for him.
Evy was pulled out of her thoughts as she saw Rosanna look over her shoulder at the Doctor, her eyes filled with tears and unimaginable sadness.
"Tell me, Doctor," she called, "Can your conscience carry the weight of another dead race?"
He said nothing and Rosanna turned back to the water, spreading her arms and staring straight ahead. Evy felt her blood boil from Rosanna. Had she had any idea how much pain she would cause?!
"Remember us," she said, the weight of her words hanging in the air like stones. "Dream of us."
"No!" the Doctor and Evy shouted as Rosanna threw herself into the canal. The water began churning, caused by Rosanna's doomed children devouring her.
Evy quickly dashed over threw himself onto the edge of the walkway to help Rosanna, but the Doctor knew she was too late.
"No, no, no, no... There's- It can't be over yet," she prayed, raking her hands over her hair in frustration.
Not yet convinced it was over, she plunged her arm into the water, attempting to find and free Rosanna. She couldn't let another race die at the Doctor's hands. Even if it meant risking herself.
"No, Evy!" The Doctor cried, falling down beside her and quickly yanking her arm out of the water right before a hungry Saturnyne snapped it jaws.
"Are you crazy?! You could have gotten eaten!" He exclaimed, holding her shoulders tightly as the red-head just stared blankly at the floor.
Evy pursed her lip. "I-I... I'm sorry."
"No, no, no," he told her, gripping her hands tightly. "Please, don't be."
She lifted her head to look up at him. His face was filled with anguish, guilt, and misery from the death of another specie. The worst part was, he felt that this was his fault.
The Doctor's gaze fell to the floor. "It- It wasn't your fault... It was-"
"-Hers."
He looked up at her in confusion, relief, and others in those emerald optics she couldn't find the words describe.
Evy swallowed roughly. "It was her doing. It was her decision to take her life, not yours."
The two were just silent for a moment, neither knowing exactly what to say to each other. Then, slowly, Evy began to lean closer to the Doctor's sitting body. He was confused at her actions for a moment but then he felt her arms wrap around him tightly.
She was hugging him. Evelyn Paris was hugging him. Not just a pat on the back or allowing him to hold her, but a real, tight, reassuring hug.
"What she said... I know it's not true. Whoever she was talking about, I know that wasn't the Doctor," she muttered into his shoulder. "I know it wasn't my Doctor."
Did she just call me 'her' Doctor? No. Yes. No, no, no. Oh, yes. Most definitely yes. The Doctor found himself blushing and glad his face was covered by her shoulder.
Silence. Then finally, "... It wasn't your fault..."
The Doctor was perfectly silent as she said this. Evy's words rang in his ears and repeated themselves over and over.
'It wasn't your fault.'
If this had happened a long time ago without her here, the blame and fault would've settled into him automatically, plunging him into a dark period for less than a second before he pushed it aside, shoving fake happiness and cheer over it.
Before, he would've masked his pain. Now, he had nothing to hide.
It wasn't my fault.
Slowly but surely, the Doctor lifted his hands and rested them on her back, holding Evy close to him. He didn't even mind that his jacket was getting wet from Evy's soaked sleeve and that her other arm was-
The Doctor froze once he felt the skin on Evy's other arm. She had been wearing a long-sleeved polo for the majority of the trip, so it would have been impossible.
Slowly, his gaze shifted to Evy's bare arm and saw cloth tightly tied around her upper arm. Looking closer, he saw patches of blood stains on the cloth, making his worry grow and his hearts beat little faster.
"Evy..." He decided to speak up, "What happened to your arm?"
The red-head's eyes widened, immediately pulling away. Oh god, he noticed.
"Oh, this? It's nothing that bad, really," she brushed it off, but the Doctor wasn't convinced.
With Evy's permission, he slowly untied the bloody cloth from her arm, sheepishly apologizing as he did so. Using a clean handkerchief from his pockets, he gently cleaned the wound.
He got a few other things from his pocket; a gauze and some medical tape. He put the gauze on the fresh wound, sealing it in place with the tape. It wasn't perfect, but it would do for now. And much to the Doctor's surprise, Evy didn't even bat an eye when her wound was cleaned.
After a moment, he stood and pulled her to her feet, pulling her close as he kept in mind that they were on a narrow walkway overlooking water and carnivorous aliens.
"Thank you," she told him sincerely, a small smile tugging at her lips.
"No..." He said slowly, allowing the magnitude of his words to settle in around them. "You helped me understand. Thank you."
Before anything else could be said, she went off the walkway, calling over her shoulder,
"Let's go find the lovebirds!"
~x~
Less than five minutes later, they found a flirting Amy and Rory and were currently strolling back over to the TARDIS.
"Now then!" the Doctor cheered, "What about you two, eh? Next stop Leadworth Registry Office? Maybe I can give you away!"
Rory looked over at Amy and sighed deeply. "No, it's fine," he said sadly. "Drop me back where you found me. I'll just say you've…."
"Stay," Amy requested when Rory trailed off. The Doctor and Evy's eyes shot over to her while Rory looked at her in surprise. "With us. Please. Just for a bit. I want you to stay."
"Fine with me!" The Doctor grinned, "Detective Inspector Pond?"
Evy looked up at the sound of her work name, both annoyed and slightly amused. "Yes, lad?" She decided to played along.
"Permission to keep Doctor Pond?"
Amy and Rory scooted over to Evy with looks like a deranged puppy, waiting for mum's approval. The Doctor looked over to the Ponds and smiled. They were going to be the perfect family.
"Hmm..." Evy but her lip as she thought for a while. "Permission granted."
With those words, Amy cheered, jumping up and down. "Yes!"
"Yeah?" Rory said, smiling between all of them. "Yes, I would like that!"
"Nice one!" Amy chirped before swiftly kissing him on the lips. She skipped over to the TARDIS and as she opened the door, called out,
"Hey, look at this Evy! Got our spaceship, got our boys! Our work here is done!"
As she dramatically entered the TARDIS, Evy tried to keep a straight face, but instantly failed at the identical looks on the Doctor and Rory's faces.
"Uh, we are not your boys," Rory told Evy, who was already nibbling her lip to stifle a laugh.
"Yeah, we are," the Doctor admitted.
"Yeah... we are," Rory agreed, defeat in his voice before he went to the door.
Rory stepped into the doorway, Alex right behind him, but the Doctor stopped them from heading in. "Hey Ponds, listen to that!" he commanded.
Rory frowned in confusion. "Er, what? All I can hear is…silence."
As Rory stepped into the TARDIS, the Doctor and Evy exchanged nervous and partially terrified looks. Rosanna's words echoed in their heads.
'There were cracks. Through some we saw Silence and the end of all things.'
~x~
As soon as they got into the TARDIS, Evy dashed to the console, grabbing her leather jacket from the jump seat and immediately putting it on before anyone could protest. Although, Amy was rather irritated.
"Oh, and there you go," she grumbled, "Typical. Straight to gettin' that blasted jacket again."
Rory stifled a laugh but Evy didn't seem to mind. She rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath, "You just wanna suck the joy out of everything..."
The Doctor entered the TARDIS last, coming up to the console to frantically press buttons.
"O-kay! When and where to next?" He asked turning to them with a wide grin. Although, the Ponds didn't share the same expression, making him turn to them, confused.
"Um... Doctor?" Amy finally spoke up, "Is it okay if you take us home?"
"Yeah, there are some things we've, um, got to get back to," Evy added shyly.
Immediately, the Doctor's face fell. "Oh... I-I understand."
"Really?"
"Yes. You have so much now. A whole new life, in fact. Back in Leadworth."
Evy pursed her lip. He wasn't wrong. Thanks to Amy, she had a family, a home, a job, and a full domestic life. She had found herself finally settling in like the normal human being she used to and had always wanted to be. It would be hard to leave all of that behind.
"I do," she admitted.
"You have people who care deeply about you. I don't want to take you from them."
That was also- Wait, what? No, that's not what I...
"Doctor..." Evy began, but the Time Lord cut her off with his sad rambling which made him seem like a hormonal teenager with mood swings.
"The adventures I take people on do tend to be dangerous a good majority of the time, even though most of the time I don't plan on it."
"Doctor-"
"I don't blame you for wanting to leave really, you'll probably be much safer back in Leadworth. Back at your house and- and- that Scott fella..."
"Doctor!"
The sad man quickly shut up. Sighing, Evy went up to him and put a hand on his shoulder as he looked up at her with his emerald, puppy-dog eyes. God, was he adorable.
"We don't want to leave you," she reassured and saw the Doctor's face immediately light up like a Christmas tree on Christmas day.
"You- you don't?"
Amy rolled her eyes at him. "What, do you think we'd just leave you here to blow up moons, or something? Of course not, stupid."
Evy giggled and gave him a playful nudge on the arm. "We just wanted to get some things, that's all," she explained before muttering, "And I may have left the telly on..."
Rory grimaced. "Oh, that's gonna be one hell of a bill."
"Of course. Yes, of course!" The Doctor grinned and pulled Evy into a big, warm hug. The reason, she didn't really know. She just stood there clueless as the Doctor hugged her, patting his back at least.
"Don't worry, we won't take long," she mumbled into his shoulder before pulling away. "I just need a pair of decent clothes."
"Oh, decent," Amy groaned, putting her hands on her hips, "You think your clothes are normal?"
"Compared to you, yes," Evy shot back.
"Well, compared to me, you look anything but a normal human being!"
"Maybe because I'm not a human being!"
"Alright, alright, girls," Rory stepped in, afraid they'd start roasting the hell out of each other if he didn't.
"Let's just have Evy get her clothes. She's just gonna get a few pairs, right, Evy?" He asked and turned to the red-head, expecting an answer, but was only shot a glare.
He swallowed thickly. "Umm... Yeah. Err, Doctor?"
The said Time Lord snapped right to attention. "Yep?"
"Uh... Leadworth, please," Rory instructed and he quickly started pressing in the coordinates.
"Alright! Earth, Leadworth, Ponds' house!" The Doctor announced and then they were off.
~x~
Amy skipped off the TARDIS with Rory, the two Time Lords later following behind. The Doctor had parked the TARDIS in their garden, just a few feet away from their house in Leadworth. The skies were already dark and Evy could immediately tell it was around dinner time.
"Always nice to be back home," Rory smiled before immediately proceeding into the house without even saying goodbyes.
Noticing her fiancée's rude action, Amy quickly apologized. "We won't be long," she reassured the Doctor, "Be back in a week or I will have to kill you."
The said man and Evy laughed, clearly knowing Amy was dead serious after the past... 'incidents'. The Doctor nodded in spite of himself and Amy grinned, giving him a big hug before heading off to the house.
Evy stepped up beside him with a chuckle. "You better keep that promise. Because if you don't, I'll have to agree with her."
"Don't worry," he laughed, "I'm the Doctor."
"Exactly," she mused before heading back to the TARDIS, leaving a confused Doctor behind.
He frowned, following after her anyways. "Wait, where are you going? Your house is right there."
"Oh... Yes, that's right," she stopped and turned back to look at him. "Listen, Doctor, I don't really live here anymore."
He blinked at her. "What?"
"Well, I actually just moved in last month in a nice little place, which I do share with Scott. It's in Upper Leadworth, so we split the rent."
"Oh... Well then, you can, uh, hop in my TARDIS," the Doctor said, opening the TARDIS doors for Evy to get inside first before following. He quickly dashed to the console, Evy waiting for him as always, and set for the TARDIS to dematerialize.
~x~
The Doctor just pressed buttons on the console, sneaking glances at Evy from time to time, who was quietly sitting on the jump seat with her arms crossed. He had no idea where they were going, as he didn't know the coordinates of Evy's new home. He never really asked and he wasn't planning to.
He just flew the TARDIS into the Time Vortex and put it on hold as he thought. This could be his only chance. Because Amy and Rory left them separately, the Doctor and Evy were alone together. He might never get this opportunity ever again.
He thought of what they could do. What could you do to show someone you like them, but not directly tell them you 'like-like' them. Then it clicked.
A date. He could take her on a date.
No, no, no, no. Hmm.. yes. Yes, yes, it was now or never. But if they were to go on a date, when and where? He didn't want it to feel like a regular trip on the TARDIS, therefore outer space dating was definitely out of the question.
Well, whatever he was planning, he had to decide fast because at the corner of his eye, he saw Evy beginning to give him odd looks.
"Doctor," she finally spoke up, standing up beside him. "Where are we going? You haven't even punched in the coordinated yet."
The Doctor quickly composed himself. "Ahh... Well... You never really gave your coordinates."
"Oh! Sorry, forgot about that. Anyway, they're-"
Before Evy could even recite the location, he abruptly cut her off. "No, no, no, no! I'm not bringing you home!"
Evy blinked at him. "You're not bringing me home..?!"
"No, no, no! I-I meant..." He trailed off deciding to change his position to face her better. "I meant that... maybe you'd want to go somewhere else first. Before I drop you home."
Evy narrowed her eyes and gave him a confused look, raising her brow. The Doctor exhaled loudly as his grip tightened on the console.
"What I'm trying to say is..."
Come on, come on! You can do this. It was now or never. This might be your only chance. You've got to do this, Doctor!
"Would you... want to go out... with me..?"
~~~To be continued in Summer Special~~~
~~~~~CHAPTER 3 END~~~~~