Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who.

"What do you mean 'break into his mind'? Are you saying that whatever these empaths are doing to Rory is going to affect the way that he processes things?" In a few seconds, Amy had gone from sheer relief about her husband being rescued to panic over what he would be like after. "Why can't we rescue him now, before they have a chance to get what they want?"

Martha's gaze was sympathetic. "They can't get a lock on his position otherwise. And we don't know for certain what effect this will leave on his mind - he could make a full recovery, but the human mind is so fragile, I'm not sure what will happen."

Amy turned. "Doctor?"

The Doctor paced back and forth slowly, tapping his screwdriver against his lower lip. If his furrowed brow was any indication, he was trying to come up with a solution to this mess. "On any other person - unless they were incredibly unstable - I'd say we'd be able to repair whatever damage the Eronians caused."

"But -" Amy prompted.

The Doctor's face paled. He slapped his forehead, once, twice. "I'm so stupid! Stupid!"

"What?!" Both women cried.

He turned and put a hand on one of each of their shoulders, but his focus was mainly on Amy. "We've been looking at this all wrong - they're not after me or information on me that he might have. They want him...his memories. He's got the whole history of the world trapped in that beautiful brain of his - 2000 years worth!"

"But..." Amy got a sinking feeling in her stomach. "But he said he couldn't remember any of it."

"I'm afraid that's not quite true. He can remember snippets - he once told me he'd locked many of the memories behind a door in his mind. At the time I thought he meant it metaphorically, but there could quite literally be a door in his mind that the Eronians want to open. Technically, he's got more memories than I do and if he opens that door, who knows what that might do to the state of his mind -"

"Doctor!" Martha interrupted him sharply. Her attention focused on Amy, who was now quite pale and looked like she was about to collapse. The other woman took hold of her by the upper arms and led her over to a chair, gently pushing her down into it. "Are you alright?"

Amy's eyes blurred with tears. "All this time...he never told me. He said he didn't remember...it didn't affect him."

"He didn't want to hurt you." The Doctor knelt in front of her.

"He should have told me."

"Well," the Doctor gave her a small smile, "when you have that many memories bouncing around in your head, you do what you can to prevent your loved ones from seeing how much it impacts you."

And that would be just what Rory would do - hide away all of that pain and sorrow, act like everything was fine so that she could be happy. Amy closed her eyes. You and I are going to have a long talk when we get home, Mr. Williams.

Martha started talking again. "Jack is going to move out as soon as they have a lock. They'll get him out of there as quickly as they can."

Amy felt sick, her stomach doing loops and twisting into knots. "But he may be permanently damaged."

"Listen, Pond," the Doctor pressed his forehead against hers the way he only did when he had something of great importance to get across to her. "Rory is one of the strongest people I know - if there's anyone who can make a full recovery, it's him. I will not give up on him. I will help him for as long as he needs my help. But I can only do so much - he needs you. He's going to need your help to bring him back from whatever place he's lost in. Can you do that?"

"I'm his wife," her lips trembled as she spoke, but her voice came out strong. "I promised I would be there for him and that is a promise I will not break."

"Good." He gave her a small smile and kissed her forehead. "Then we have nothing to worry about."

Rory could feel his mind splintering even now when he was awake. Scattered conversations with people long dead flashed through his memories along with faces that he thought he'd forgotten. He found it difficult to concentrate on Ava as she adjusted some of the silver straps around his head.

Shock. I'm going into shock, he thought. And that was probably partially true, but he knew that the physical state of his body was only an echo of his mental state.

"There now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Ava started talking again. "You have a lovely wife, you should be grateful we let you spend some time with her."

"She wasn't real." He felt a tear slip down his cheek, much to his chagrin.

"Oh, but she was." Ava caught the tear on her fingertip and held it up to the light. "Perfectly reconstructed from your memories of her. Real enough to make you cry."

"Please don't do this. You have no idea what you're getting into."

She wrapped her fingers around his forearms and smiled. "You have memories of over 2,000 years of history running through your mind. Maybe you didn't move around much, but we can still utilize what you did encounter. You see, we're not just empaths, Mr. Williams, we're time travelers, and we're looking to shape the future of your world. We'll find a weak point in history and take over the people there -"

"And you'll start controlling people's minds so that they do what you want them to do," he finished, more and more horrified at the words coming out of her mouth.

She smiled wider. "You're smarter than I gave you credit for. And you have no idea what a windfall you are. We thought about taking the Doctor, but everybody knows you can't just break into the mind of a timelord. But you -" she brushed her fingers across his cheeks again and he was surprised to find that he was still crying, " - you are so fragile. Your poor human heart with all of its desires, fears, and anger. You are more than I could have wished for. You've surprised me too. I didn't realize just how much you have been through, but I guess that's what happens when you travel with the Doctor."

Rory swallowed. "You can't do this, surely you must see that. By changing humanity's future, you won't just change our timeline, you'll change your own."

"That's precisely the point. Empaths have been shunned, mocked, and cast aside for centuries. It is time for us to have a proper place in society."

Rory reached for the last straw in his arsenal. "Then talk to the Doctor. He can help you. He can give you a place of your own where your people can flourish unhindered."

She finally back away from him. "I can see why your wife loves you so much - you have a compassionate heart. But I'm afraid that compassion never got us far. It only seemed to hurt us and, I'm afraid, it's only going to hurt you too."

"Ava -"

She was already heading towards the door. "Welcome to stage five, Mr. Williams."

He tried to keep his eyes open, tried to fight against his restraints, but he blinked once and he was standing on Appalapachia with the Doctor.

"Rory? Rory! Are you listening to me?"

"What? What's the matter?" He turned to face the Doctor and his heart sank when he saw the expression on the alien's face. It was an expression he used only when he had something particularly bad to say.

"We have to leave them, Rory."

"Them? Leave who?"

The Doctor pointed to the magnifying glass on the table. Though he didn't want to see what was on the other side, he forced himself to take a step closer and peer inside.

Amy and River were there.

"What - how? We've got to get them out! Amy! River!"

Amy's beautiful eyes glistened. She couldn't seem to get the words out, so River stepped up beside her and laid a hand on her shoulder. "I'm afraid you can't get us out."

"What do you mean? I can go in - just like last time -"

River shook her head. "There is no way in this time. This time-stream has been completely sealed off."

"That's not possible!" He ran for the door to the room where the TARDIS was located and tried to find the red button. It was no longer there. Panic seized him. He rushed back into the room.

The Doctor leaned against one of the walls, his arms crossed in front of his chest. The grim look on his face was frightening in its intensity.

Rory went back over to the glass. It was a shock to see that Amy already looked a few years older but River...

"Doctor, why does River look younger?"

His daughter spoke up before the alien could explain. "We're heading forwards in time, a natural progression, which means that while Amy is aging...I'm growing younger. Eventually, I will be nothing more than a child, an infant in fact, I - "

"No, that's not possible - it's not!"

"Rory!" Amy finally spoke up, getting close to the magnifying glass. "Calm down, it's alright."

"No, it's not alright!" He punched the table. "You're my family, I'm not just going to sit here and watch you die!"

"I wouldn't ask you to. Go with the Doctor. He'll take you home."

He reached up and touched the glass, his fingertips exactly matching where hers were. "I don't have a home without you. What would I do without my girls?"

"Dad, don't do this to yourself." The lines on River's face were fading. "Just leave, it's not like we have an excruciating death awaiting us."

"I'm not leaving you."

"Rory -" this time it was the Doctor who spoke.

"Shut up!" He turned to face the alien. "They're all I have and I am not leaving them. Maybe it's easier for you to run away from your problems, but I can't do that, not to the people who matter most to me."

The Doctor looked pained.

Rory took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

"It's okay."

"Rory," a voice croaked from the magnifying glass.

He whirled. Horror seized him when he saw the old face peering back at him. He'd only looked away for a couple of seconds! How could Amy have aged so quickly? He stumbled over to the glass, trying to keep the tears in check, but failing miserably.

This Amy was even older than the one he had met on this planet the first time. Her hair was completely silver and soft wrinkles lined every part of her face, still she managed a small smile for him. "You know...we never got to spend much time with our baby. She's so beautiful."

She held something up in her fragile, trembling hands.

Rory gasped as he recognized the little face peering up at him from the bundle of clothes Amy had her wrapped in: his little daughter, his Melody. "That's...she's..."

"I wish you could be here...just to hold her again..."

"Oh, Amy." He leaned his forehead against the cool glass. "I'm so sorry."

"It's alright, Rory, it's alright. I just...need to...lie down for a bit." Amy looked so tired, her thin arms struggling to keep hold of the infant in her arms.

"Amy!"

She dropped out of view.

"Amy!"

A few minutes passed.

Melody started crying.

"No, no. It's okay, little one, it's -" his voice broke as the infant's cries began to die down. "Melody? Please don't...let me know you're still there...please..."

The infant's cries stopped.

"I can't...I..." He couldn't catch a glimpse of them in the glass and now he wasn't even sure he wanted to. Anger rushed through him. He seized the magnifying glass and threw it against the wall.

The sound of breaking glass matched the shattering of his heart.