What if? Angel loses the Baby? Part 2.
Rory blinked in astonishment, he hadn't expected to see Angel here. " Angel, hi," he said opening the door to let the Time Lady inside. " What're you doing here?"
Angel smiled, genuinely pleased to see her companion. She might not have a TARDIS just yet, it was still growing close to the rift in Cardiff, but that it was a technicality to her. She stepped through into Amy and Rory's home, slipping off her shoes, and basically admiring the decor. It was easy to see Amy and Rory's influence of the place. " Can't I see my companion from time to time?" she asked.
Rory chuckled. " Course it is," he replied wrapping her in a hug. " How have you been?"
Angel pulled away. " Not too bad. I've started the process of growing a new TARDIS from scratch. I should've taken a piece of the Doctor's, but I didn't want to. Partly because it would remind me of him, and secondly because the TARDIS might not have approved." Rory led the Time Lady into the living room whilst Rory went to make themselves something to drink.
" You still haven't forgiven him?" Rory asked as he handed her a mug of tea. Angel's small smile faded at the question as she took the mug.
" No, I haven't. And I can't see myself forgiving him anytime soon. I've had time to think Rory, I should have dragged him to the medical bay in the TARDIS and showed him a baby scan. It might have made him more responsible."
Rory took a sip from his mug, wondering how to tell Angel about Melody. The pain of what his daughter had gone through was too much to bear, but he knew Angel would understand.
Angel read the pain on her companion's face. " What's wrong, Rory?"
Rory sighed. He should've expected that from her. Angel...was intuitive, able to see things other people couldn't, and part of him wondered if the events of Demon's Run would've happened at all if Angel had been there.
" I'm a father now."
Angel blinked. " What?"
" I'm a father," Rory replied. Angel frowned; she didn't understand humans at the best of times, but why was Rory proud and yet...sad about it. No, not sad. Bitter. Something's happened, Angel realised. The baby wasn't dead, it was still alive. But why wasn't it here? She'd been round to Rhys and Gwen's in Cardiff a few times, and their home spoke volumes there was a child there; toys littering the floor, paintings were mounted in frames around the house, and it wasn't just them. Mickey and Martha's little boy had decorated their home with countless pictures, so why was there nothing here? She knew Rory, knew he wanted a family. He would've wanted the place decorated and littered with toys and pictures.
" Rory," she began, " what's happened?"
Rory took a deep breath. " We had our wedding night in the TARDIS," he began, " and a few months later there were signs Amy was pregnant, though she said nothing about it then. Anyway, you noticed Amy was pregnant when we met in Utah."
Angel nodded, not wanting to get into this topic. " What happened?" she repeated.
" After you left, the Doctor had us go through exactly what had happened, why Amy had hugged him like she had seen him die," Angel winced. " Sorry Angel," Rory said. " River tried to get us not to say anything, but after seeing you leave like you had, well lets just say the Doctor was far from his normal self. He lost his temper with River, told her you were right that she knew nothing about time travel.
" His mood grew worse when we took him through the story, especially when he realised we had no choice but to go through with it so we could meet Canton Delaware. He also laid it into River, I can tell you," Rory looked at her grimly. " He could tell she knew something we didn't, and he shouted at her to give us the answers. But all she would say was-"
" Spoilers," Angel finished irritably. She knew.
" Anyway, we went back to 1969..." Angel listened as Rory told her the whole story; how aliens called the Silents dominated the Earth for centuries, manipulating the humans ever since. Angel closed her eyes as she pictured the Doctor's plan about how to eradicate the Silent's influence.
" How was River with the Doctor?" she asked during Rory's description of how the Doctor had manipulated events so that a Silent would be tricked into handing out a telepathic command to the humans to kill them all on sight. It was a good plan in theory, but she was disgusted, and didn't hesitate to show Rory, how she felt about mass genocide. It would've been preferable to force the Silence off Earth, but it was River she wanted to know about; that's what she really wanted to know. She might have her issues with the Doctor, but she still loved him deep down, and he was her Mate and the only other member of her species in the universe, and yet that woman seemed desperate to have him.
Rory looked sheepishly at her. " She tried flirting with him, but the Doctor wouldn't have it. He was furious with her when she tried to rub herself on his back when we cornered the Silence. He pushed her away, saying he had a Mate."
Angel closed her eyes. " That doesn't explain what's happened to your baby, Rory. There aren't any pictures of a baby in this house."
" Amy was kidnapped by the Silents," Rory began heavily. " They knew she was pregnant, knew she was conceived in the TARDIS."
" Why would that matter?"
" The Silence have been trying to kill the Doctor, don't ask me why," Rory replied to her shock and horror. " They seemed to be aware of the number of times others have tried to kill the Doctor, and figured only another Time Lord could kill the Doctor, so they kidnapped my wife and daughter to create a weapon, a Time Lord to kill him."
Angel's eyes popped open. " Let me see if I get this straight," she said, " the Silence found out, somehow, you and Amy had conceived a baby inside the TARDIS, and they kidnapped her from Amy-"
" No," Rory corrected. " They kidnapped Amy when she was pregnant. They kept her in a facility called Demon's Run, putting a duplicate in her place. The Doctor knew the whole time, but he didn't say a word." He finished bitterly. Angel nodded, agreeing with him completely. " But they thought your daughter would be a Time Lord able to kill the Doctor?"
" Yes."
Angel then did something that took Rory by surprise. She laughed.
" What's so funny? Why're you laughing?" Rory asked angrily, shocked and hurt Angel could be cruel.
Angel managed, just, to regain control of herself. " I'm sorry," she choked out. " It's just such a ridiculous concept."
" But, the Doctor said-"
" The Doctor doesn't understand your daughter, by the way what's she called?"
" Melody, but nowadays she goes by a name you know," Rory replied looking awkward.
Angel frowned. " Rory, who is she?" She had a good idea who it was even before Rory opened his mouth.
" River Song." Rory answered.
Angel couldn't believe it. How could River Song be Rory, her sweet companion Rory's daughter? It wasn't possible, but she didn't sense any untruthfulness coming from Rory.
" River is your daughter?" At his nod, she shook her head. " Rory, how she can be your daughter? She's nothing like you. I hate to say it, but she's rude, arrogant, and a host of other things."
Rory nodded. He remembered the only time he'd seen his daughter with Angel, and he hadn't been impressed with the way his daughter had treated the Time Lady. " I know, but its the truth. Why did you say it's a ridiculous concept for River to be a Time Lord?"
Angel sighed and put her tea down. " When you travel through time in a TARDIS, your body soaks up radiation. It's harmless, its like soaking up the energy from the sun. It makes a sort of sense for your daughter to have absorbed a lot more radiation than normal because she was born with it, but it doesn't mean she's a Time Lord."
" How do you mean?" Rory asked in confusion. " She could regenerate, and she has already done it twice-"
" Doesn't mean she's a pure Time Lord," Angel interrupted, wondering what Rory meant by that about River having regenerated twice but found she didn't really care. " Time Lords weren't unique in that sense, other races could do more or less the same thing, but differently. It takes more than just being conceived in the TARDIS to make someone a Time Lord. Our people used a combination of genetic manipulation, temporal energy, and selective evolution to create a being who could sense time and space. River can't do that."
" Then why did the Doctor say she was a Time Lord, then?" Rory asked.
Angel sighed again, cursing the Doctor for not bothering to get all the facts. " Because the amount of temporal energy from the vortex mutated your daughter's DNA, making her more time sensitive. Yes, she can regenerate-"
" She can't anymore," Rory replied. " River poisoned him with lipstick, but when she found out he was a good man, she sacrificed all her remaining lives to cure him."
Angel closed her eyes. Now she knew what it was. A few months ago she'd felt a pain in her chest, in her hearts, but she had known it was nothing to do with her body. It was focused on the mating bond she still had with the Doctor, but then it had faded. It had terrified Martha, Mickey, and the Torchwood team.
Now she knew what it was though she'd known the Doctor was involved.
" I'm...thankful for that, at least," Angel admitted. " But it still doesn't make her a Time Lord. Rory, I grew up amongst TARDISes, I know what I'm talking about. River may have been able to regenerate, but she isn't a Time Lord," Angel sighed as she wondered how many times she would have to repeat herself before she could say it. " The Doctor was wrong, the theory is right but what I said to River about her knowing nothing about time's true enough. River isn't a Time Lord because she knows nothing about what it means to be a Time Lord. She's just an advanced human, that's all. And the Silence have no idea what being a Time Lord means."
" So what have you been doing since I last saw you?" Rory asked her as he busied himself with dinner; he and Amy had arranged a system, they would take turns cooking dinner for their spouse, and they would do the washing up whilst the other chatted.
" Not much," Angel replied, standing off to the side with her arms folded. " I've been helping Torchwood now and again with the rift, beginning the process of growing a TARDIS for myself. I've felt the occasional feeling from the Doctor, but I've ignored it all."
Possibly for the best. Rory had filled her in on the adventures her Mate had been having; the adventure where they'd found an asteroid which fed off TARDISes was scary, and Angel had been chilled to learn that her family's work, all that time growing and nurturing TARDISes only for them to be eaten alive like that, like animals sent off to the slaughter...She'd been delighted to learn the creature had been killed by the TARDIS matrix.
" Angel?" Rory asked to get her attention. " Yes, Rory?" Angel said.
" Why are you staying in Cardiff? You've mentioned a rift and an adopted brother, but-" he trailed off as he waited for the Time Lady to reply.
" It's more than that," Angel replied. " Because I'm a Time Lady, and it's well known the Doctor survived the Time war. And it's also known he has a Mate. Me. How many races out there, including these Silents, know that? They knew for sure your wife was pregnant, so its more than likely they were thinking of kidnapping me to use my baby to kill its own father, so they had to settle for yours. Sorry, I didn't mean for that to sound like it did."
" No, it's okay," Rory replied as he stirred the sauce in the pan. " You were saying about the rift," he said to move away from the painful topic.
" Yeah. With the amount of temporal energy seeping through, and with my connection to the time vortex, I've been able to use it like a forcefield. Some of the Doctor's enemies know I've got it, so they can track it."
" But how can they do that when they can't track you down when you're sitting on top of a rift," Rory realised. Angel grinned. " You're learning."
" But wait," he realised. " This isn't Cardiff, so aren't you in danger?"
That was the problem with knowing the Doctor, those who travelled with him were constantly in danger, but how more so than Angel, his Mate and the only other member of his species still alive?
" I'll be alright," Angel replied. Rory was startled by the lack of concern Angel had for herself. It was as if she no longer cared what happened to herself, which probably wasn't a surprise since she'd lost the baby. " The vortex manipulator," she held up her wrist with the dark strap wrapped around it, " is preprogrammed. I only need to trigger it. Besides I don't often leave Cardiff. Unless someone knows what they're doing, I'm safe."
Rory nodded. He was pleased Angel was taking precautions, but he was worried about her, had been for a long time since the disaster with the Gli. He still couldn't believe the Doctor's cavalier attitude when it came to adventuring; he and Angel were the only members of their kind left in the universe and he was dragging her into danger, seemingly laughing at danger. He'd ignored Angel's warnings and look what the result was. Oh, Rory was delighted the stupid bastard had wised up on the fact Angel was his Mate, but he hated the fact he had to find out the way he had. Rory hadn't been surprised by Angel leaving, of all the people in the TARDIS she'd confided in him when she was crying her eyes out, saying she couldn't forgive him for their baby dying, and Rory couldn't blame her. He was tempted himself to drag Amy out himself, and leave the Doctor to travel on his own for the rest of his miserable life.
Angel seemed to have lost the will to live, and that didn't sit well with him. It wasn't just him either, he'd met Mickey Smith, and to his delight he'd found a kindred spirit. Both men were worried about Angel and wanted nothing more that to beat the crap out of the Doctor for what he'd done.
" Angel," Rory began, " do you think-?" he trailed off when he found he couldn't ask his question.
Fortunately Angel knew what he was about to say. " Do you think I can forgive the Doctor, is that what you were about to say?" At Rory's nod, Angel sighed thoughtfully. She was silent for a moment before she replied. " The Doctor broke my hearts when he forgot about me," she said, " when he flirted and became interested in River Song, they broke a little bit more leaving an aching pain in my hearts. When the baby died because he stepped out of the way of the blow, I felt them shatter. Everyone has their breaking point, Rory. I'm no different. I can forgive so many things, but losing my baby...," Angel closed her eyes in pain. She knew Rory would understand because he'd lost his own child who happened to be the woman Angel loathed the most, all because the other races in the universe were afraid of the Doctor. She wasn't sure how to take that, if they were afraid of him then what about her? How did they view her, her abilities as a precog and a wielder of the vortex? Did they see her as an Angel like her mother had, or did they see her as a monster? The thoughts made Angel more angry with the Doctor than ever. " Everyone has their breaking point, Rory. I'm no different. I nearly lost my mind when I learnt the Cybermen had killed my mother, and I went after a Dalek which murdered my sister. But that child inside me, it represented my future, my permanent future. I'd hoped the knowledge I was pregnant would help jog the Doctor's memory, and I was planning on telling him before we landed on Gli."
Angel walked over to the window, and her earlier thoughts mingled with her present thoughts. " You know, when you told me about how the universe fears the Doctor, I couldn't help but wonder how they saw me. My mother called me her angel, so I chose the name. I've tried to live by it ever since. Time Lord names, they're like a promise. How does everyone out there see me, the Mate of the Doctor, an angel who helps, or a monster?"
Rory breathed. " How can you think that?" He walked over to her, and turned her around gently. " You're not a monster. Me, Mickey-"
" Mickey?" Angel interrupted with a smile of joy. " You've met him?"
Rory nodded, smiling too. " Yeah. When you said I'd like him, you were right."
Angel smiled wider at that.
" What is she doing here?" An angry voice interrupted their moment, and they both turned. Amy was standing there angrily, glaring at Angel. The Time Lady frowned, wondering what she'd done to Amy to warrant this. Then she realised; River, their baby. Angel suddenly understood, Amy was angry because the child she'd carried had been taken from her, raised to be a partial Time Lord psychopath. Instead of feeling anger for the accusation which was unspoken Angel felt sympathy for her, knowing what it felt like to lose someone or something you loved. Amy was far from alone there.
It didn't mean she had to take it, though. Angel had changed a great deal since Amy had seen her last, and with this new threat of the Silence and their vendetta against the Doctor, Angel was in no mood to be attacked, used, threatened, or kidnapped. Her power of the vortex had been strengthened by her time in Cardiff, and she'd taken to watching things like Charmed, Star Wars, Merlin, and Harry Potter as tips to find a way to control her powers. She wasn't planning on taking down a Dalek battlefleet but that didn't mean she couldn't defend herself. Without the Doctor, she felt she needed it.
She wasn't going to let Amy threaten her either.
" I was visiting Rory, you remember my pilot, right?" Angel asked, standing away from Amy. She flushed vortex energy through her body, preparing herself for anything.
Amy scowled. Rory frowned at her. " Amy, what's wrong?"
" It's her fault," his wife replied in a whisper.
" What is?" Rory asked confused, stunned by the fury...the hatred in Amy's voice. What had Angel done to her recently?
Angel sighed when she realised Amy wasn't going to reply. " She's blaming me for what happened with her and your daughter, Rory," she sighed, " she thinks my baby should have been taken instead."
" What?" Rory looked at the Time Lady in shock before turning to Amy. She was unrepentant. " Why are you even thinking that Amy?"
" Because we'd be raising our baby, our daughter. Instead she's in prison because of her-" Amy's tirade was stopped thankfully when Angel wished her to be quiet. Surprised by how well it had worked, she stepped forwards placatingly. " Amy, I'm so sorry. I had nothing to do with your kidnap. I really didn't. I've been working hard to forget what the Doctor did to me. He did this, Amy, but not intentionally. His name means he helps people, but some don't seem to grasp that.
" Yes, River is paying for it," Angel didn't add that she hoped the woman was suffering. It wasn't in her nature to wish someone pain, but when it came to these Silence, Daleks, Cybermen, and River Song, she thought differently. " But its not my fault. My baby died a long time before yours was taken from you."
She had to get out of there. She felt stiffled. Amy was sobbing her heart out, the pain and realisation was on her face, but Angel wasn't going to stay there. Rory was crying as well, but Angel knew she was too much of a coward to fight back, she was tired of this.
She sighed as she pressed the vortex manipulator. She wasn't going to fight anymore with Amy or Rory, and she didn't want to listen anymore to what the two humans had to say.
It was the end of another day at Torchwood, another day of monitoring the rift manipulator. Angel sighed as she picked up her things, and after exchanging goodbyes with Tosh, Owen, Jack, Gwen, Ianto and Gray, she left the base. She knew the other members of Torchwood were worried about her despite her assurances. What she'd told the Doctor, the future Doctor, months ago about Jack wanting to come and beat him up was true, but what she hadn't said was he wasn't alone. Nearly everyone she knew - Mickey, Donna, to name a few others, had wanted to come with her when that damn envelope had arrived, and make the Doctor pay.
It had been tempting, a part of her had to admit, but that wasn't who Angel was. Angel had declined, and had gone on her own, but when she'd come back and told the others what had happened she almost had wished she'd taken some of them with her. Jack had been furious, and none of the others had been any better. She only hoped the Doctor had the sense not to come to Cardiff, he wouldn't get a warm welcome if he did.
Angel opened her flat, and stepped inside. She had to grin everytime she came in here. When she'd first come here she'd spent months with the help of Jack and her friends in making this place a perfect home for her. Course there was no home better than a TARDIS, but this flat was beautiful in its way. Unlike Gwen and Rhys's utilitarian flat, Angel's was like walking into a library/living room/ conservatory/ kitchen/bathroom the size of a swimming pool.
With the help of Time Lord dimensional engineering, she'd made this flat three time larger on the inside than the outside in places, with the exception of the room where new TARDIS was growing. Because of their multidimensional nature, a TARDIS could not exist within another TARDIS unless there was a sufficient change in the dimensional frequency. A normal Time Lord or Lady would adjust the frequency and work from it from there, they would also need a good few centuries or decades or so before a TARDIS could be grown to working size.
But Angel wasn't a normal Time Lady, and for the first time in decades she was pleased about that. There were tricks to growing a TARDIS without having to wait too long.
The multidimensional flat had been part of her plan. She would have preferred to wait for centuries as she grew the TARDIS, and at first she'd gone through with that plan before realising it wouldn't work even with the rift. It was like pouring droplets of water onto a plant, the leaves would still be brown and in some cases brittle. Being a TARDIS farmer, the last TARDIS farmer, Angel had seen quickly what she was doing wrong; her desire to be alone for so long with only Jack for company...It wasn't right, her new TARDIS might be flawed. On Gallifrey the TARDIS farms were partly dimensional pockets, because dimensional pockets could soak up energy from the Eye of Harmony, and channel that into TARDISes that were growing. It had taken hundreds of years for the first TARDIS to be grown before somebody had had the idea, but it had worked so well it was a standard form of TARDIS growing. It worked both ways of course, and Angel knew the techniques, but she'd opted for the slow path at first so she would be over her baby's death. She'd decided against it when she'd realised she was being cruel to herself and her friends.
So she'd used her knowledge of dimensional engineering to create a lens for the rift energy, and grow the TARDIS. The dimensional pocket she'd created would absorb the energy from the rift, and channel it into the new TARDIS, and grow it from there.
Angel admitted to herself she would like to see the Doctor come up with something like this, but she pushed that thought away from her mind as she checked on the TARDIS.
The room where the TARDIS was being grown was empty of everything except a small chunk of what looked like coral. TARDISes were grown from the universe itself, but this one was different. It was the first TARDIS grown without the aid of the Eye of Harmony, and as Angel looked at it she couldn't help but worry that the loss of the Eye would be an issue for the TARDIS. It was one of her greatest fears, that she wasn't channeling enough energy into her new ship, but her fears were unfounded. The TARDIS was growing rapidly.
Soon she'd be able to check out the temporal and spatial dimensions.
As Angel settled down to eat some dinner, she considered everything. Her visit to Rory, the revelation about River, the knowledge people wanted to kill the Doctor out of fear, it made her worry about her own wellbeing. She knew Jack would protect her, but she wasn't stupid. If this Silence knew about him they would almost certainly know about her. Angel frowned as she remembered telling Jack about the Silence. Being a former Time agent from the 51st century was a wonder sometimes, but Jack had only heard whispers about the Silence, but enough to tell her they were a religious order, the sentinels of history. Angel had been worried when she'd heard that part; the only race to deserve that title was now dead. Rory had given her a lot of information about the Silence, but Angel wondered if she should meddle in their affairs or not.
That was the Doctor's repertoire, not hers.
There was a chime, making Angel sit up with a start before moving quickly to the small device she'd rigged up, using the Doctor's TARDIS key as a detector thanks to the sensitivity of the temporal rift.
The Doctor was here.
Angel clenched her jaw, the detector was supposed to glow brightly when the TARDIS was in close proximity. And it was, the TARDIS was materialising outside her flat. The dimensional pocket she'd set up was good for protecting her, but it also stopped uninvited guests. One of them was outside her door.
Sighing, Angel realised there was no other thing for it but to talk to him. She checked the alarm button which would send word to Jack if she needed help, she hoped she wouldn't need it.
By the time she arrived at the door the sound of the TARDIS materialising was fading. Angel folded her arms as she opened the door with it still on a chain, she wasn't letting him inside her flat.
The Doctor's face was pale when he saw her, and she knew by looking at him he was older now than when he last saw him in America.
" How long?" she asked him.
The Doctor sighed, knowing what she was asking. It was clear he wanted to come inside, but Angel wasn't in the mood to speak to him. She wanted nothing to do with the manipulative, uncaring Time Lord. Not anymore. " 200 years," he whispered. " I've come full circle."
Angel quirked a brow. " I met with Rory, and Amy briefly," she told him. " Rory told me the truth about River, about what the Silence are trying to use her as. Another child's life you destroyed, though I'm envious of them," she added, " you didn't kill their child."
The Doctor winced, and tears started trickling down his face. " That's what I'm doing," he said, " going on a farewell tour of the universe-"
" I don't care," Angel interrupted sharply. " I carried our child even when you forgot about me, and you started fawning over River. There were times I was on the verge of leaving you, and raise our child on my own."
The Doctor closed his eyes, and looked left and right. " Can I come in?" he asked hesitantly. He didn't want to say what he'd come to say in an open hallway where anyone could hear him. But Angel wasn't in the mood, gone were the days where she was a pushover. She'd had to grow up out of her innocence, cosy as it had been.
" No," she answered levelly. " Just say what you've come to say, and go away. Go back to your fantasy land where you can do no wrong, where you think you can say whatever you like to aliens who have strict taboos, like the Gli. Remember them, remember what you said to them, and you stepped out of the way, uncaring about whether or not me, Rory, or Amy could just be standing behind you when you so thoughtfully stepped out of the way?"
The Doctor stood there. There was nothing he could say, not even the famous Time Lord talent of having the right words to say to get himself out of trouble, because Angel was right. He'd had been careless, he'd insulted an alien species, and Angel and their child had paid the price. He'd hated himself ever since.
Angel watched him, knowing what thoughts were running through his head. But she was getting impatient. " Get to the point, Doctor," she snapped.
" Where do I begin?" the Doctor asked rhetorically. " When I found out, remembered...I couldn't believe it, I couldn't believe I'd forgotten you. I hated myself for being responsible for our child's death, your sobs ripped my hearts to pieces-
" Good," Angel interrupted.
The Doctor took a deep breath, and kept talking. " But when I kept trying to see you, your screams when you saw me hurt even more. How could I do that to you, my Mate?"
Angel shook her head. She knew the Doctor still loved, and she still loved him. But as far as she was concerned it was over between them, he'd hurt her needlessly, spited her for a full hellish year, forced her watch as he became interested in River, then forced her to go through the pain of miscarriage. Getting away from him had done wonders for her, especially since Jack wouldn't let someone as selfish and cruel as River Song hurt her, but when she'd gotten that letter, Jack had urged her to go because it might mend things. Angel loved Jack's optimism, but when she'd seen the Doctor's death, all neatly arranged, she'd felt sick. He'd done it again, manipulating the situation, and forcing her to watch. Did the man not know how much it hurt?
" Rory told me about what happened after I left," she said quietly. " How you implanted a telepathic command to wipe the Silence out on sight. I can't even muster the words to describe how disgusted I was when I heard that, despite it liberating the human race. The man I thought I loved, the man I thought valued life more than anything," she shook her head sadly as if shaking off a wonderful dream, " he never existed, did he? I think you said enough, Doctor. Now go to Lake Silencio, and get yourself killed. I'll join you afterwards."
And Angel closed the door in the startled Time Lords face. She took a deep breath, and walked off. If she was right then the Doctor would find a way to survive...