Chapter 5

The car hissed to a slow stop despite the Doctor's repeated button pressing and stick-turning. As the vehicle settled by the side of the road, the control panel lights dimmed and went out, leaving them in near darkness. "No, no, no, that can't be right!" the Time Lord muttered, jabbing at the power gauge with a finger. "We can't be out of power yet…"

"What do you mean, 'out of power?' Out of power as in out of battery power?" Rory asked nervously from beside him. Giving the steering stick a final, useless prod, the man slumped back in his seat.

"Um…apparently." was all he could come up with as a response.

"Apparently? Didn't you open the solar panel last night?" his companion asked, and the Doctor winced at the frustrated tone.

"I guess I forgot…" he mumbled, hearing him groan at the words. Brightening, he straightened up and exclaimed, "Oh lighten up, Rory! Maybe someone will come and give us a lift!"

"According to the map, we're on a back road, Doctor. I doubt anyone will come before morning." Rory informed him after a moment of peering at the holographic map in his hands, sounding cross.

"Well then it won't be too bad, spending the night. We're just stuck here until sunrise, that's all! Lots of things for us to do!" he replied cheerfully, gazing around at the landscape outside the car. The road wound along the top of a high plateau, overlooking a huge plain that stretched off to the horizon. It was the night of their sixth day away, and he was in the process of driving them to the Zenith Canyons. Yes, a shuttle would have been faster, but what was the point of a vacation if you didn't slow down and take in the scenery?

"Like what?"

"Like…like…" the Doctor hesitated, casting about for an activity. The sinking moon caught his attention, and he grinned. "Like stargazing! Yes, we'll stargaze. Haven't done that here in ages, and the sky is beautiful this time of year." he decided, scrambling out of the car.

"Alright…" Rory agreed, joining him a minute later on the dry black grass. Already stretched out on his back, the Doctor eyed the starry sky above them, picking out the important stars and constellations from memory. Raising a finger, he pointed directly north, just above the setting moon.

"That cluster of five bright stars is known as Kloss's Ring by the locals here. It supposedly came into being when the legendary hero, Kloss, threw his magic ring into the sky to fight the attacking Moon God. The Moon God was so frightened of its power that he fled back to the moon, ceasing his attack on Jersezia 12. The legend goes that in order to ensure the safety of the planet, Kloss made a wish for his ring to remain in the sky forever, and thus the ring transformed into a cluster of stars. The constellation always rises and sets with the moon, so maybe that's where the legend came from. Or perhaps there really was a hero named Kloss…"

The Time Lord continued to ramble happily on, occasionally glancing over at Rory. His companion seemed interested in what he was saying, sometimes picking out a star and asking a question about it. After meteor left a streak of light across the sky, the young man caught his look and gave him a smile in return.

They lay there in silence, the Doctor having just concluded a lengthy tale about the constellation known as The Pot of Curses. It was strange, just being together like this. Sure, they had been separated from Amy a few times while travelling, but this was different. No alien invasion to fight off, no deadly creature chasing them. Just him and the Doctor. Alone. That strange, wonderful person with a time-travelling police box; the one who somehow made him feel so torn.

"You're awful quiet. I'm not boring you, am I?" the Doctor said suddenly.

"Oh…no, no you're not. I was just thinking…" he mumbled awkwardly, trying to conceal a blush. His thoughts had been wandering into territory he didn't want to think about.

"About what?" There was a familiar note of curiosity in the man's voice that made Rory realize he couldn't shake off the question with a simple 'nothing important.' Admitting his thoughts was out of the question as well.

"Um…" Stalling, the young man stared up at the night sky in desperation, racking his mind for an answer. "I was just thinking…about the stars. I dream about a black sky, sometimes." The Doctor didn't know that he still remembered that time. He probably thought he had forgotten when the universe was reset. But he hadn't.

"Oh, right." the Doctor murmured. "I don't know how you did it, waiting like that. All those years…"

Rory closed his eyes then, picturing in his mind the sight of a starless sky. Just the moon shining down, waxing and waning in an endless cycle. Sometimes, while travelling with the Pandorica, it had been his only way to keep track of time. Remember a comment the man next to him had said once, he said, "900 years is a long time, too."

The Doctor was quiet for a moment, then propped himself up on an elbow and looked at Rory. "I was travelling, though. Always on the move, and time almost never passed in the right order. 900 years is a long time, but 1,894 years is even longer. Nearly 2,000 years. But you waited for her." The stars seemed to shine brighter as the Doctor smiled, or perhaps it was just Rory's imagination, focused as he was on the other man.

Glancing away, he frowned as memories flooded his mind. There had been times when he had almost given up. He had found himself thinking that he was guarding a box that might never open, despite everything the Doctor had told him. Time could be re-written after all, especially in a universe as strange as the one he had existed in. And the things he had gone through to protect her!

The Doctor didn't know what it was like, having a Frankish sword at your throat, or being sold with the Pandorica to the Chinese in order to ensure a safe trading route to the East for Italian merchants. Or knowing that an army, or a storm at sea, or an American bomber might strike at any time and end everything you sought to protect. Hearing the bitterness in his thoughts, Rory kept his gaze averted. The Doctor didn't need to know that. "Yeah, I waited. Somehow."

"But everything turned out alright, eh? You, the Pandorica, and Amy all survived. That might not have been the case if you hadn't stayed to protect her." the Doctor said after a long silence, perhaps picking up on the mood of this thoughts. "Rory, the Boy Who Waited."

Surprised at the title, he looked back at the man, seeing that while the smile was still there, it looked sadder. He blinked, unsure of how to respond. "I think I liked the Lone Centurion better." he finally joked, relieved to see the smile brighten.

"Yeah, that's a good title. Much more mysterious." the Doctor replied, somehow having closed the gap that had been between them without Rory noticing. He did see that he was being looked at carefully, and wondered with growing nervousness what was going on. The Doctor was leaning over him now, eyes fixed on his face.

"Close your eyes and hold still…" the man breathed. Heart pounding, the young man did just that, distractedly asking himself why he was obeying. Was he going to do another massage session? It was an odd place for one, but Rory knew that he wouldn't object. Or had his eyes betrayed his thoughts? But it suddenly didn't matter, because the Doctor was kissing him.