As Rebecca and the Doctor engaged in a complicated, very complicated and intelligent sounding conversation, Lily nudged Amy.
"Hey, want to go to the shooting range?" She asked excitedly.
"Uh, sure, I guess, as long as it's fine with your mom and the Doctor."
"Oh, Mom's always fine with me going down there, and as for the Doctor…" She shrugged. "Seeing how he feels about guns, better not to bring it up, you know?"
Amy hesitated another moment, turning toward the Doctor, before turning back and spreading her hands out with a smile. "Well then, let's do it!"
After a brief crash course on guns, Amy stood, eyeing them suspiciously, not really sure where to start. "You know a lot about these, don't you?"
"I had gun training, it's required for members, and even though I'm not technically a member, I essentially am, and Mom wanted me to have the same training as everyone else." She grinned. "I'm a pretty good shot, too."
"Well, then, let's see!" Amy replied, raising her eyebrows and crossing her arms over her chest.
Lily smirked. "I'll take that as a challenge!" She picked up the gun closest to her, checked that it was loaded, flicked of the safety, and spun toward the target. After a split second of aiming, she fired the gun, leaving a whole right in the center of the target.
Amy was impressed. "Wow."
"Now let's see what you can do." She put the gun back on the table and walked over to Amy. "Ever fired a gun before?"
"No."
"Well, then, just remember what I told you, and ask questions if you need to." She picked another gun up and handed it over. "Here, let's start with this one."
Amy stared at it. "Uh…"
Lily walked forward and began guiding her into position, patiently narrating what she was doing. "One handed. Body sideways, bring the arm up slowly, look down your arm at the target, and fire when you're ready." She stepped back. Amy felt a brief moment of panic. Lily looked at her and must have noticed. "Don't tense up. Just relax. I'm right here, nothing will go wrong."
Amy took a deep breath to calm herself and then pulled the trigger. The gun jumped in her hand and her bullet hole appeared on the target, not even close to Lily's, but on the target nevertheless. After a moment she became aware of Lily cheering and laughing in the background. She walked up and patted her on the shoulder.
"Great job! A lot of people don't even hit the target on their first try!"
"Did you?"
She grinned cheekily. "Yeah, but that's not the point."
Amy set the gun back on the table with the rest. "You respect the Doctor a lot, don't you?"
Lily fingered the handle of a gun. "Yeah, I do. He's like the father I've never had."
Amy felt a pang of guilt for not telling her the truth. Instead she went on to her original question. "Does it feel strange using guns when you know how opposed he is against them?"
Lily picked up the gun, running her finger down the barrel, and then set it down again. "I don't know, I guess maybe a little. Diplomacy is the best choice in theory, but not always in practice. Sometimes guns are necessary." She thought for a moment. "I guess essentially we believe the same thing. Guns should only be used for a last choice scenario. I think the difference is our definitions of what a last choice is."
"Do you think he's wrong?"
She smiled. "It's not that I think he's wrong, not really. Maybe he's a bit too optimistic, maybe he overestimates sentient beings' ability to see reason."
Amy chuckled. "Well, I think he has trouble with that himself."
Lily laughed. "I can't argue with that, although I bet he would."
"Oi! You two talking about me?" Lily and Amy looked up to see Rebecca and the Doctor standing in the doorway.
"And if we were?" Lily asked innocently.
"Then I want to know what you were saying."
"Sorry, no can do. But I will say that it wasn't anything bad," Amy said.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Well that narrows it down," he muttered sarcastically.
"Well it should!" Lily piped up. When he turned to glare at her, she held up her hands, laughing. "Kidding!"
"Well, it's not funny," he grumbled.
"You're pouting!" Amy laughed.
"Am not!" he protested sulkily.
"Sure!" Lily said sarcastically, elongating the word.
Rebecca smiled. "Now, girls," she said mildly.
The Doctor turned to her. "You know, you're not making it very clear whose side you're on."
Rebecca laughed. Lily bounced up to her excitedly. "Did we get any interesting alerts today?"
She shook her head. "No, everything's quiet. But Tim says that it reminds him of the calm before a storm."
"What do you mean?" Amy asked. She glanced at the Doctor, whose brow was furrowed.
"She means that it might be an indication that something big is coming."
"What, like a war?" she asked, surprised.
"It's a possibility," he said seriously. He glanced at Rebecca. "I think it might be a good idea to stay around a little longer."
Amy glanced at Lily, who looked like she was having trouble deciding whether to be worried or excited. Amy found herself feeling basically the same way. She couldn't help but wonder how this might change her life forever.
A/N: another semi-successful fillerish chapter. :P anyway, apologies for being away so long! (if you already have read on another story why I've been away, skip this part. I don't say anything new.) I forced myself to quit fanfiction for a little bit to try to concentrate on grades and school work, but as of May 28, 2010, I am officially done with this year of school! *cheering* and I've missed writing so much that I had to go to fanfiction immediately.
So, a few things to say about this chapter: any names of people are completely irrelevant to anything and are simply what I decided to call the people when I decided I needed a name to call someone. That actually goes for the entire story. The shooting range scene was inspired by the scene in Torchwood, without the sexual tension XP Also, I still am not exactly sure what I'm doing with the plot. I'm winging it XD I'm thinking there might be a party somewhere, not really sure how to make that happen, but I have something that I'm just dying to put in, but I don't know where. Beyond that, I just hope that you enjoyed, and I apologize for the long author's note.