When In Rome… Bump Into Interesting People…. Literally
Once among the crowd of shoppers Amy realised it was much harder to navigate the market than she'd anticipated. The place was so overwhelming with all its sights, sounds and smells that she didn't even know where to begin looking. She also realised that with so many other people around this would surely be a prime location for pickpockets, and she became immensely grateful that she currently had no pockets to pick.
Amy weaved her way in and out of the many people surrounding her in search of a stall that might catch her eye, but shortly found herself standing in the way of an oncoming entourage of slaves accompanying their master. Not wanting to annoy someone powerful enough to own slaves, she tried to shuffle out of their way to let them pass unhindered, but as she did so her calves hit what must have been baskets of stock on the floor behind her and she stumbled, falling backwards and feeling herself land on someone standing by the nearby stall.
He staggered under the impact of her landing on him but remained on his feet, and Amy felt herself blush furiously as she tried to regain her balance. "I'm so sorry," she muttered as she tried to correct herself, looking downwards and hoping she hadn't just crossed someone who might be prone to getting particularly angry. Instead of the harsh rebuke she'd feared, she felt hands on her shoulders helping her stand upright again and heard a kind voice speaking.
"Don't worry about it. Are you alright?"
Relieved she hadn't just almost knocked over some mean slave master or the sort, Amy relaxed and let out a breath. "Yes, thank you. I just tripped…" she began to reply, but as she looked up at his face her surprise caused that sentence to trail off. The man was young – no older than twenty-five – and definitely good looking by Amy's standards, but there was a vicious line of scar tissue cutting its way across his face that her attention couldn't help but be drawn to. Quickly trying to take in the rest of his appearance, she noticed that the top of his right ear was a mess of red scabs and raw skin, as if the tip had been recently sliced off, and on his throat there was an array of yellowish blotches suggesting bruises that were in the process of healing.
Amy gasped. "You have been in the wars, haven't you?" she muttered without thinking, and then realising that his attire was that of a soldier like Rory, she cleared her throat and said more purposefully, "I mean, you uh… you have been in the wars, haven't you?"
He was quite a lot taller than she was and looked down at her in bemusement for a couple of seconds, then a small ironic smile formed on his lips. "Not any wars, no. Not recently," he replied, "Just the food riots last month."
That took Amy by surprise. "There were food riots?" she asked before she could stop herself.
He looked puzzled by her surprise. "Yes, the crisis in Egypt meant there was a severe grain shortage in Rome. Weren't you here for that?"
She shook her head. "No, I've only just arrived in the city today, actually. I'm a bit out of the loop as to what's going on."
"You've arrived at the best time then," he responded. "There was nothing but trouble these past few weeks. You're lucky you missed it."
Amy found herself growing relieved that the TARDIS hadn't parked them here just a few days earlier. "Well, I'm glad it's over," she commented, before glancing over at the stall they were standing beside. She was a little surprised to see he'd been browsing jewellery. "Bit of a girly thing for a man like you to be buying, isn't it?" she said, again without thinking.
As he realised she'd noticed what he'd been looking out, he glanced away and blushed ever so slightly. "Oh, that. I'm looking for a gift for my fiancée, actually," he explained.
That is actually really sweet, Amy thought, and couldn't help but find his awkwardness quite cute. "I'm sure she'll love it," she responded enthusiastically, "I know I loved it when my fiancé bought me jewellery. Well, he's my husband now, but if he bought me one of these I'd be pleased." Smiling, she gestured at the array of pendants and necklaces on the stall, but she was disappointed to see that a rather dour frown had settled on his face.
"I hope so, but I don't know what to buy," he said uncertainly, but then brightened up a little as an idea seemed to occur to him. "Would you help me pick? You have a better idea of what women like than I do."
A little taken aback but flattered all the same, Amy smiled. Of all the people she could have accidentally fallen on top of, she was glad it was someone like him. "Of course," she replied, before realising they hadn't even been introduced yet. "I'm Amelia by the way," she said, deciding to use her more Latin-esque full name, "Just call me Amy."
He smiled at her again, more warmly this time. "Cato. Well, Prefect Cato actually, but let's not bother with that."
Amy had little knowledge of how the Roman army worked, but from her talks with Rory she knew that a Prefect was high ranking. Again, she was somewhat surprised. He seemed young to have been promoted so highly.
"Alright, Cato," she said, gesturing at the jewellery on display. "What do you like the look of so far?"
He pointed to a gold rectangular pendant with a badly done bass relief of Neptune on the front. It was rather ugly. "What do you think of that one?"
Amy sighed and shook her head. "I don't think so," she said as gently as possible, before turning to some of the gemstone bracelets on the table and picking one up. "It depends what kind of things she likes," she said as she held it up to him. "How does she feel about opals?"
He studied the bracelet for a moment and then bit his lip. "I'm not sure."
Patiently, Amy set the bracelet back down again and looked back up at him. "Okay, then what does she like?"
Cato looked thoughtful for a moment, and then with a pained expression admitted, "I don't know. I mean, what's the right kind of present to say 'I'm sorry I left you on your own for a year, but even though I'm sorry and I don't want to do it again I'm going to anyway'."
Following that, Amy thought she was beginning to understand the reasons for the sad look in his eyes. She wasn't sure exactly what must have happened, but she was beginning to get the sense that she wasn't speaking to just a normal Roman soldier looking for a normal gift. "Well, do you have a choice to stay with her?" she asked, trying to be sensitive.
He shook his head. "Not really. It's sort of a life or death situation."
What that could be Amy didn't know, but her curiosity was piqued. She was aware that the Roman Empire could be a dangerous place, but there seemed to be something particularly unusual about this situation. Still, she was trying not to pry. "Then I'm sure she'll forgive you, if she knows you don't have a choice," she said, hoping to reassure him.
He sighed. "I know, but I'm worried that maybe I'm not buying this to say sorry for leaving, but to try and stop her finding someone else while I'm gone."
The conflict and worry he felt was evident on his face, and Amy had a sudden moment of understanding exactly what he meant. "She won't," she said suddenly, in a tone of such certainty that it caused him to look at her in surprise. Amy herself was a little taken aback, but his words had triggered her to suddenly realise something about herself and Rory. "If she loves you, she won't find anybody else. She'll wait."
"But what if…" he began to say, but Amy firmly cut him off before he chance to talk himself into feeling worse.
"Trust me. She'll wait."
He looked like he might be about to speak again, but there must have been something in her expression that caused him to pause and consider it. However, his troubled look showed he was still far from reassured.
"Put it this way," Amy said, wanting to make him feel better, "If it was the other way round, would you wait for her?"
"Of course," he answered immediately.
"Would you wait two thousand years for her?"
He seemed a little perplexed by her specific choice of number, but answered anyway. "Yes."
"Then if she loves you, she'll do the same," Amy said with a reassuring smile. "How about you don't get her a gift to say sorry for leaving, but instead as a promise that you'll come back?"
He chewed his lip as he thought about that for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, I like that idea."
"Okay," Amy said, at last pleased to see a more content expression on his face. "Which still leaves us to decide what to get. So…" She picked up another pendant of a gleaming yellow orb set in gold. "What about topaz?"
He looked at it, still uncertain. "Maybe. Her favourite colour's green. Should I get her something in that?"
Amy set the pendant back down and looked back at the selection of jewellery, noticing there seemed to be more choice among the green ones than just about any other colour. "Okay, prefect boy, this could take a while…"