Rory clutched at his stomach and groaned. Rough seas weren't exactly his favorite thing in the world. The few times he'd had to face them, he was always sick. Amy looked over at him, flashing him a sympathetic expression. She couldn't help him, after all, and she didn't know what else to do. She turned away from him and looked back to her hands. Despite being stressed, she had managed not to bite her nails. It had always been a nervous habit of hers. Maybe she was too distracted by everything to remember. They were in the cabin of the boat for what seemed like days, but in reality was about seven hours. About five hours in, Ciaran slowed down the boat so he could show Amy and Rory where the food was. They ate a little bit of food, and arrived at a large bay about two hours later. Ciaran shouted down that they were "there", and they came up on the main part of the boat. Amy looked around.
"This is Dårlig Ulv Stranden?" she asked.
Ciaran nodded. "You'll probably find Rose's house in the forest," he said, gesturing to the forest about a half-mile behind the bay. "It wouldn't be more than a mile into the forest. She always wanted to stay close to the bay."
Amy and Rory thanked the man and watched him grow smaller on the horizon. They turned to the forest ahead of them. Taking each other's hand, they began to walk. The damp sand rippled under their feet. It appeared to be dusk, and the sun was quickly sinking below the horizon. The forest was quite dark, the trees providing shade below their giant branches. Amy could smell smoke, like someone was burning charcoal. She told Rory, and he noticed, too. In less than half a mile, they reached a small cottage-like house with smoke curling up from the chimney. Rory stepped forward and knocked on the door. It was like deja-vu. They heard some scuffling inside, and then the door very slowly opened. A pretty blond girl peeked out.
"Hello?" she said, and spotted the couple. She opened the door a little bit more. "Who are you?"
"I'm Amy, and this is Rory. We were travelling with the Doctor," Amy replied. The girl gasped and opened the door all the way.
"Is-is he here? How did you get here? Has he regenerated?" she stammered desperately, her eyes wild.
"Not exactly," Rory said, slowly. "Are you Rose?"
The girl nodded. "Yes! I am. Sorry, please, come inside. Tea?" she said, hurrying them inside and running off into the kitchen. It seemed like every English person's solution to anything and everything was tea. Not that Rory and Amy minded – they had just had a long voyage here, and tea was very welcome at the moment. Rose bustled back in with everything they needed for tea. The couple sat down on the loveseat while Rose sat in the chair across from them, the table laid with tea in between them. She took a deep breath.
"Right. Tell me everything," she said, somewhat breathlessly.
And they did. It was completely dark outside by the time they had finished. The three of them sat there, silent for quite a long time. Suddenly, they heard someone sigh in the hallway. Amy jumped and she and Rory twisted around to look. There stood a man in a casual blue pinstriped suit. His chocolate hair was spiky and stood up a bit at the front, as if defying gravity. His eyes, which matched the color of his hair, were alert and inquisitive, yet they had a certain sadness to them, as if he had seen everything the universe had to offer. Amy immediately knew who it was, only by the man's eyes.
"You're the Doctor," she said quietly. "Not my Doctor, though. But you're definitely one of them. You have the… the…" Amy trailed off, motioning to her eyes. She didn't realize how much she missed him until now. She looked down as her eyes began to fill with tears, and she blinked them away. The man in front of her nodded gravely. He sighed again before speaking.
"Yes, I'm the Doctor. I'm the tenth regeneration. Well, I'm the one that grew out of the hand… did Jackie tell you the story?" he said. The Ponds nodded, and everyone fell silent for a while, until Rory spoke up.
"Well, this isn't going to do any good. We're in a parallel world where my own father doesn't even know who I am, we technically don't even exist, and we have nothing to our names. What do we do?" he said desperately.
"Well…" the Doctor said, drawing out the word. "I have been working on a sort of… communicator, if you will, that connects with the TARDIS. I'll be honest with you though, I'm not sure how far along I am with it. It could be finished in an hour, it might never be ready. But it's worth a shot, I suppose?"
"Y-yeah, of course," Amy replied, her eyes wide. A communicator with the TARDIS? That was incredible!
"I'll get working on it again. I've been working on it since we were trapped here, but I'm not sure when I'll finish. Like I said, it could done in an hour or never. All the same, I'll go work on it." With that, Rose's Doctor exited the room. Soon they could hear him fiddling with mechanical things in the next room. Again, everyone was silent, but this time, Rose broke the silence.
"So… you saw my mother and father? And Tony?" she said softly. Amy could only nod. "H-how are they?" Rose asked.
"They're doing alright," Amy told her, and paused. "Your mum misses you a lot. She said she would try to visit, but with Tony and the money problem, it's not really possible at the moment."
Rose bit her lip, nodding. She looked up and noticed that all the tea was gone. "Oh! Sorry, let me get some more. Would you like some cakes and sandwiches?" she asked. She didn't even wait for an answer before she dashed into the kitchen. Amy looked at her husband and shrugged.
"What do you think of her?" Rory asked her.
"I think she's sweet. I think that she's seen a lot, that's for sure," she mumbled.
Rose soon came rushing out with finger cakes, tiny sandwiches, and more tea with fresh cups. She had only just set it down when a loud shout came from the next room.
