Notes: Sorry for the delay on this one, but it will go very quickly now. I've got a good plan for it and I'm already a good portion into writing the next part of it. Thanks for sticking with me!

Rose, the Doctor, Amy, and Rory were enjoying a picnic in Central Park. They had decided to take a little holiday and explore the sights. The Doctor hadn't been to the original New York since travelling with Martha, and that had been during the Depression. He was feeding Rose little bites of fruit from their picnic as she read to him from the trashy novel she had found at a little bookstore nearby.

"New York growled at my window, but I was ready for it. My stocking seams were straight, my lipstick was combat ready, and I was packing cleavage that could fell an ox at twenty feet," Rose read aloud, trying not to laugh at the cheesy writing. It did fit with the style of the book, so she couldn't really fault the author for that.

"Must you two do that? Couldn't you use your little mind talking thing?" Amy grumbled, trying to read her own novel next to them.

"Oh, come on, Amy! This is fun and silly! You'll love it, I swear. It's one of those sort of film noir detective stories," Rose told her.

"There's something different about you, isn't there?" the Doctor asked Amy distractedly.

"What's the book?" Rory interrupted, feeling that his wife was a bit uncomfortable with the sudden scrutiny.

"Melody Malone. She's a private detective in old town New York," Rose replied, waggling her eyebrows.

"She's got ice in her heart and a kiss on her lips, and a vulnerable side she keeps well hidden," Amy added dramatically.

"Have you read this already?" Rose wondered.

"You read it. Aloud. Honestly, sometimes you two do the strangest things," she responded, shaking her head.

"It's your hair! Is it your hair?" the Doctor guessed as he continued to look curiously at Amy to figure out what was different.

"Oh, shut up. It's the glasses. I'm wearing reading glasses now, on my nose, see? There you go," Amy corrected him abruptly.

"No, that's not it. There's something else, something I'm missing," he insisted, missing the knowing glance between Amy and Rose.

"Okay, I'm going to go and get us some more coffee. Who wants more coffee? Me too. I'll go!" Rory announced uncomfortably, making the Doctor even more sure that they were hiding something.

Amy rolled her eyes at his obvious attempt to escape the situation. "I'll have a tea, thanks," she called to him and he waved back in acknowledgement. "Alright, Rose, keep reading."

"Knew you'd like it," she teased with a wink.

"Shut up, and read me a story," Amy replied petulantly.

The Doctor hummed, clearly still contemplating what the change was in Amy, when he reached for the book in Rose's hand and tore out the last page. Rose rolled her eyes and took the paper from him to tuck in her pocket before he could toss it away.

"Why did you do that?" Amy questioned.

"I always rip out the last page of a book. Then it doesn't have to end," he explained.

"He hates endings. One day though, I found Jamie in the library, tearing pages out of the books and his excuse was that daddy always did that," Rose complained, turning back to where she had left off in the book they were currently reading. "As I crossed the street, I saw the thin guy, but he didn't see me. I guess that's how it began."

Rose licked her finger and turned the page. "I followed the skinny guy for two more blocks before he turned and I could ask exactly what he was doing here. He looked a little scared, so I gave him my best smile and my bluest eyes," Rose continued reading, then paused, worry clear on her face.

"Rose? What did the skinny guy say?" Amy prompted and the Doctor looked over his wife's shoulder to see what had her so concerned.

Rose seemed frozen in shock, so the Doctor replied, "He said, 'I just went to get coffees for the Doctor, Rose, and Amy. Hello, River.'"

#########################

"Hello, Dad," River responded with a smile. She was wearing a revealing dress, appropriate for the 1930s, and killer heels, her makeup impeccable.

"Where am I? How the hell did I get here?" Rory wondered.

"I haven't the faintest idea, but you'll probably want to put your hands up," River informed him with a nod toward the man pointing a gun at them.

Rory immediately joined his daughter in surrendering to the thugs that surrounded them. He stood protectively between River and the gun, despite having no idea what this was all about.

"Melody Malone?" one of them asked.

At her nod, Rory gasped, "You're Melody?"

They were urged into the back of a limousine that pulled up next to them.

#########################

"Ok, Doctor, what's the deal with this? I'm sure that having our every move dictated by a book is not a good thing, yeah?" Rose questioned as they made their way back to the TARDIS.

"What's River doing in a book? What's Rory doing in a book?" Amy asked them worriedly.

"He went to get coffee. Pay attention. And no, love, it is very, very not good," the Doctor snapped, rushing to the console.

"He went to get coffee and turned up in a book. How does that work?" Amy demanded, clearly panicking now.

"I don't know. We're in New York!" he snapped at her.

"Everyone calm down. Doctor, what do I do about the book? Keep reading? Put it away?" Rose prompted, trying to keep calm enough to think clearly.

"How did you choose that book specifically?" he asked her.

"Someone in the shop recommended it. I don't know who he was, just some random guy," Rose replied quickly.

"Ok, figure that out later. Date, date. Does she mention a date? When is this happening?" he asked.

"Right, hang on. Oh, April 3rd, 1938," Rose answered, scanning the pages quickly for information.

######################

"You didn't come here in the Doctor's TARDIS, obviously," River commented.

"Why?" Rory wondered.

"He couldn't have. The Doctor isn't a good enough pilot for that. This city's full of time distortions. It'd be impossible for him to land the TARDIS here. Like trying to land a plane in a blizzard. Even I couldn't do it," River explained.

#############################

"Even who couldn't do it?!" the Doctor shouted indignantly as he input the date coordinates.

"Relax, you know she's always winding you up," Rose chastised.

"1938. Easy one," he insisted, just as the console began sparking violently.

"What was that?" Amy asked him.

"1938. We just bounced off it," he admitted.

###########################

"So how did you get here?" Rory questioned.

"Vortex manipulator. Less bulky than a TARDIS. A motorbike through traffic. You?" River explained, proudly displaying her current method of travel. Soon she was sure she would be joining her husband on their TARDIS and leaving this lifestyle behind. The last time she had seen her husband, he was only a child. It had been a first meeting for him and nearly broke her heart.

"I'm not sure," Rory admitted.

##############################

The Doctor landed the TARDIS so that he could put out the fires that had started in the console room. Rose was carefully scanning the pages of the book for details that would help them, without learning too much about her own future.

"It's probably the Weeping Angels," the Doctor muttered as he blasted flames with a fire extinguisher.

"The Weeping Angels?" Amy asked.

"You're probably right," Rose agreed.

"Why? What do Angels have to do with it?" Amy questioned. The last time she had encountered them, many people had died.

"That's what happened to Rory. That's what the Angels do. It's their preferred form of attack. They zap you back in time, let you live to death," the Doctor explained.

"Well, we've got a time machine. We can just go and get him," Amy reasoned.

"Well, tried that, if you've noticed, and we are back where we started in 2012," he responded petulantly.

"This isn't where we started though. This looks like the suburbs. We were in Central Park," Amy argued.

"Yes, well it's nearby. Probably causally linked somehow. Doesn't matter. Extractor fans on!" he shouted into the ship, trying to clear the smoke from the console room.

"Apparently, Jamie has better luck getting there than we did. Maybe we could lock onto his TARDIS?" Rose told him as she scanned further into the book.

"What?" the Doctor asked, paying close attention to a possible solution.

"Jamie lands there to rescue them. 'I only came here because mum and dad called and told me to. Gave me coordinates from a book to drop you off first, then got here as quickly as I could,'" Rose read to him from the paperback.

"Right! Time to call Jamie and find those coordinates, my love," the Doctor responded brightly as he rushed back inside toward a solution. "Don't read anything about when we get there!"

"Yes, I know. I did mention I realized how bad it would be to have our actions dictated by a book, yeah?" Rose told him, rolling her eyes.

"But we've already been reading it," Amy argued.

"Just the stuff that's happening now, in parallel with us. That's as far as we go," the Doctor insisted.

"But it could help us find Rory!" she shouted.

"And if you read ahead and find that Rory dies? This isn't any old future, Amy, it's ours. Once we know what's coming, it's fixed," the Doctor explained.

"Amy, remember when we had that circular paradox stuff going on and Jamie said it was best if we all knew as little about details as possible? It gave us room to live the events properly, once something is established, you can't change it. Paradoxes are extremely dangerous. I caused one once and just about destroyed the whole planet," Rose told her, taking her hand supportively. "Jamie is already going to get there to help them. We know that," she added, holding up the novel.

Amy nodded, though her eyes were a bit damp. The Doctor was on the phone attached to the console, "Jamie! We have a bit of a situation. You're in a book, which means that you are in a sort of timey wimey way, being summoned to a particular point. I have coordinates for where to drop off your River first, so that she isn't bumping into her past self on this little adventure. Don't let her tell you anything about where you're going and all that. We will lock our TARDIS onto yours once you've landed."

"Alright, why am I not locking onto yours to follow you there if you've got all the information?" James wondered.

"Well, it is apparently a rather bumpy ride and… And… You could lock your TARDIS onto her Vortex Manipulator! You built it, after all, should be an easy thing to trace," the Doctor suggested.

"Fine," he sighed. "You know River is laughing at you right now. Probably because she knows exactly why you're following me, rather than the other way around."

"I just told you! You can lock into her more easily than I can! Now, I'm sending you the coordinates to drop off your River, and we'll meet you there momentarily."

##########################

"So, it would seem that I'm dropping you off somewhere before I go and see you in your past," James told his wife as he entered the coordinates his father had sent.

"Yes, and you know I can't tell you anything about it," she answered with a knowing grin.

"Do you at least know where it is that I'm dropping you off? I don't recognize the address," he wondered.

"No idea, but I'm sure it'll be just fine," she assured him as they landed. "See you soon!" River did her best to stroll casually out of their TARDIS, but being nine months pregnant, it was really more of a waddle.

James watched her go to the front door of the house before turning away from the exterior camera and focussing on locking onto his wife's past Vortex Manipulator. His father indicated that it would be somewhere in New York 1938, so he focussed his search there.

###############################

"You have a very interesting collection, from what I've heard," River commented as she took in their captor's collection of antiques.

"And you have a rather interesting hobby, from what I've heard," the man replied.

"And you're very afraid. That's an awful lot of locks for one door," she added. There were a dozen or so bolts and chains on the reinforced front door.

"Do we have a plan yet, River?" Rory asked her quietly.

"This one. Put him somewhere uncomfortable," the man ordered regarding Rory.

"Working on it," she assured her father before he was taken away.

"With the babies, sir?" the goon suggested.

"Yes, why not? Give him to the babies," their host agreed.

River decided to take some control over the situation and walked confidently into the next room to explore. "Let's see, crime boss with a collecting fetish. Whatever you don't let anyone else see has got to be your favourite. Or possibly your girlfriend," she deduced and pulled back a long red curtain to reveal a snarling angel statue, locked in chains. "So, girlfriend, then."

The man looked at her curiously when she typed a few commands into her Vortex Manipulator.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Oh, you know, texting a boy," she answered as she finished calling for her husband.

"These things are all over, but people don't seem to notice. It never moves while you're looking," he told her, confused by her actions, but anxious to get back to the reason he had her brought here.

"Oh, I know how they work," she replied. She had spent years studying them before and after the events with the Byzantium.

"So I understand. Melody Malone, the detective who investigates Angels," he commented. He seemed quite proud to have captured her.

"Badly damaged," she assessed, her skills as an archeologist coming to the fore.

"I wanted to know if it could feel pain," he informed her. He was still on the other side of the room, so River wasn't worried about him, not that she couldn't take care of herself.

"You realise it's screaming? The others can hear. Is that why you need all the locks?" she asked pointedly.

The man smirked at her, then turned off the lights for a couple of seconds. When they were back on, it was revealed that the angel had a hold on River's wrist.

"You're going to tell me all about these creatures. And you're going to do it quickly," he insisted as he approached where River was now trapped.

"The Angels are predators. They're deadly. What do you want with them?" River asked curiously.

"I'm a collector. What collector could resist these? I'm only human," he responded.

"That's exactly what they're thinking," she told him. That was when the lights flickered slightly and the sound of the universe breathing began to fill the house. It was a difficult materialization and the building shook with the effort.

"What's that? What's happening? Is it an earthquake?" the man questioned frantically. He had already been on edge over the statues coming for him. "What is it?"

"Mr. Grayle, just you wait till my husband gets home," she told him confidently as what appeared to be Michelangelo's David appeared in the foyer.

At the sight of it, Grayle fell unconscious on the floor. James emerged from the side of the statue and smirked as he greeted her, "Sorry I'm late, honey. Traffic was hell."