Chapter Thirty-Three: The Boy Who Waits

"Archie Hopper."

"Captain Hook?"

"Wrong! He's Jiminy Cricket!"

Rory slightly snickered under the mouthful of toothpaste as he brushed his teeth in the bathroom. It was hard enough playing the game with Amy while he was doing so. Spitting out the toothpaste to give himself a moment to talk clearly, he told Amy, "He looked like the type who could've been a captain."

"With two hands?" Amy said from outside the bathroom.

Rory took a moment to consider the fact after hearing it from Amy and nodded in acceptance of it. "Ok, so the psychiatrist is Jiminy Cricket, the mayor is the Evil Queen, and the waitress the Doctor's dating is Red Riding Hood…"

The bathroom door opened inward, slamming against Rory, as Amy frustratingly stuck her head in and said, "The Doctor's not dating her…John Smith is!"

"Right. John Smith. The man that he believes he is."

Amy stuck herself back out of the bathroom, allowing Rory to continue having his privacy, and glimpsed at the list of Storybrooke residents and their fairy tale counterparts that Henry had given her and Rory to follow. "So where were we? Ah, yes! Hansel and Gretel…"

Just when Rory was about to answer, there was a knock at the door. Amy groaned in aggravation, knowing that it was the inn owner (Granny) offering breakfast and housekeeping as she had the previous mornings they had been there. "For the last time, Granny, if we want bacon and eggs, we'll come down and get it ourselves." She went to the door and opened it, finding not Granny at her doorstep but a despondent Henry. "Hey, kid. Surprised to see you here. I thought you'd be at school or something."

Henry walked right into their room just as Rory was getting out of the bathroom with a white bathrobe on. "Operation Cobra is taking a pretty bad turn. Emma wants to leave Storybrooke and August is turning into wood."

The latter news brought out a surprised reaction from the couple. "Turning into wood?" Rory repeated Henry's words. "What…y-you mean he's…Pinocchio?"

"Apparently so." Henry confirmed.

"Congrats! You finally got one right!" Amy told her husband, although the sincerity was mixed with sarcasm.

"August is out of the mission – I don't even think he's got very long left." Henry deduced.

Amy frowned. "You mean he's dying?"

Henry sighed with infuriation. "All of this would've been over with by now if the Doctor hadn't been sucked in by the curse. He would be so angry with me right now for failing like I am."

Amy could see how frustrated Henry was and knew that she had to say something right away to calm him. She walked up to Henry, knelt down to be at eye level with him, and said in assurance, "Hey, hey, now that is not true. Kid, you're talkin' to someone who's known the Doctor since she was your age. He never gets angry with children. He makes sure they never give up on their hopes and keep movin' stronger than ever. If there's anything he would be right now, it's proud of you." Without even turning to Rory, she asked him, "Isn't that right, Rory?"

Her words were so powerful that even Rory almost did not realize she was addressing him. "Oh, uh, yeah. Everything she said."

Henry smiled at the both of them. "Thanks." He then made his way back to the door while he informed them, "I'm gonna try and talk Emma in staying. She needs to believe the fact she's everyone's only hope in getting their lives back."

Amy nodded. "Nice. What do you want us to do?"

"Go to the hospital and get Captain Jack Harkness back on his feet." Henry instructed. "We haven't lost all of Operation Cobra yet."

Hearing the name, Rory wondered, "Captain Jack Harkness? Is he another cursed fairy tale character?"

Henry shook his head. "No…he's another friend of the Doctor's." Leaving them with their instruction, Henry exited their room and went to handle his own assignment. Amy intently watched him depart, not taking her eyes off the door even after he was gone.

Meanwhile, Rory was focused heavily on the name Henry gave them. "Captain Jack Harkness…okay, so he's someone else the Doctor knows that's here. What do you think he does? Besides captaining, I suppose. What makes him special to the Doctor?" He soon noticed that he was talking to himself as Amy was still looking at the door he exited through. "Amy? Are you alright?"

"We can't let that boy down." She muttered before finally turning to face Rory. "The way he looks to the Doctor for help…it's the same way I looked to him before he left. He's the only one who really knows what's going on in a town full of idiots who have no clue. Sound familiar?"

Rory grasped the association that she was making and did in fact see how much Henry's situation with the curse resembled hers with the Doctor; when no one believed her, she only had herself to depend on. "We're not going to let Henry down, Amy," Rory assured her.

"Damn right we aren't." Amy declared. "Now…let's go out and find this Captain Jack Harkness, shall we?"