"Ex Memoria"

12. A Pressing Need

Chicago, Illinois – in the year 2021

They had lost track of just how long they had been waiting inside the TARDIS, but by all accounts it couldn't have been that far off from the Doctor returning. Once he did, they could finally get on track with deciding their next step, to handle this infection and right everything which had been wronged.

Tina and Mike had been alternately sitting quietly and standing to pace around the console, inspecting the various gadgets and controls. They couldn't say it aloud, but it only took one look between one another to know what they were thinking. They couldn't speak for the rest of the ship, but this room right here was different from the one they had seen when they'd first met the Doctor nine years prior. It made it that much easier then to act as though they were surprised and impressed.

Amy had been throwing darts. She found it easier to focus and not let any memories wander if she kept herself busy this way. She was aiming now, concentrating with the confidence that she would hit the bulls eye, when Rory broke the near silence of the TARDIS and startled her into hitting the outer edges.

She was going to complain, until she turned around and found her husband running for the door with great haste.

"Rory, what on Earth are you doing?" He pivoted back to look at her, the panic clear on his face.

"I'm late, I have to go!"

"Late for what?" Amy approached him cautiously, while Mike and Tina looked on.

"The meeting, at the bank, the loan! If I'm not there, we'll lose the house!" There was no need wondering whether or not he'd 'caught a memory,' but Amy had a good idea of where it might have come from.

"Rory? Listen to me," she approached him the way one might approach a jittery animal they were trying to catch. "There's no meeting, no loan, not for you," she assured him.

"Yes, there is, I know, the note's been on the refrigerator door for a week!" he made for the door again and Mike came nearer, bracing in case they had to stop him.

"That wasn't you," Amy went on.

"Of course it was, Amy, we can't lose the house, what about the kids?"

"We've only just married, we don't have children, Rory," she insisted, and he looked wounded. "I know where the memory must have come from, that man, in the food truck, remember? It can't be us, we don't live in Chicago… on in 2021."

Rory wouldn't budge. The memory felt so real to him, it just couldn't be that it didn't belong to him.

"But… the loan…" he pleaded.

"We could prove it to him," Tina suggested, and the others turned to her; Rory was very much on board with this idea. "We know the city, we can get him there and back in no time," she promised.

Amy still didn't feel like this was a great idea, but the desperation would not leave her husband's eyes. So the four of them left the TARDIS. Once Rory told them which bank the meeting was at, Tina and Mike had led the way; Amy didn't let go of Rory's arm.

If the bank hadn't been so close to their previous location, it might have been more of a problem, but even as they climbed the steps out front, they could look back and see the top of the TARDIS at a distance.

Walking through the door, Amy could see how much Rory was struggling to do as he'd been told. He wanted to believe Amy when she said what he was remembering wasn't real. She was his wife, she loved him, so why would she lie, especially with what they'd seen already. But the things he felt about this memory were so strong in him that he couldn't let go. He had promised to keep it together as they went into the bank, and he was doing it, no matter how hard it was.

"Is this the place?" Mike asked.

"Yes, I… I think so," Rory frowned.

Just then, they overheard a man and woman talking, two bank employees. Rory seemed to recognize one, which they guessed was the loan officer. He was telling the woman how one of his appointments hadn't shown up, which was a shame for that family. When he looked around and happened to see Rory and the others there, the lack of recognition appeared to seal the deal and convince Rory.

"This is all my fault," he declared, dejected, as they left the bank. "If we hadn't gone to his truck, I wouldn't have gotten his memory and he wouldn't have missed his appointment. Now his family will lose their house, and all he'll have gotten in return will be some Enrique Iglesias song."

"After this is done, we'll find him," Mike declared. "We'll find a way to help him," Tina nodded in agreement. Amy joined in by turning an encouraging smile on to Rory, who let out a breath, then nodded.

"We should get back to the TARDIS before…" Amy started to say, just as Tina's phone rang.

"It's Mrs. Lenkov," she read off the ID before answering. Shortly they would explain to Amy and Rory that Mrs. Lenkov was their elderly neighbor. "Hello?" Tina replied. They watched her as she listened and, as she spoke back, they pieced together the situation.

It seemed there was a man banging loudly at her door, looking for her, claiming to be her sister, even though Mrs. Lenkov hadn't seen or heard from her sister since she'd run away decades before, and also this man was in no way an old woman.

They could guess the truth of the matter and, with no need for hesitation, they promised Mrs. Lenkov that they were on their way.

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)