My Daughter
When Amy walked in she found her husband in bed, with the light on, and a newspaper in his hands. No glasses, unlike her, he could see everything perfectly. She turned to leave, but his voice stopped her in the doorway.
"It's bad."
"Excuse me?"
"The hurricane. Camille."
Amy heard the newspaper rustle and turned to see what he was talking about.
"Haven't you been following the news?"
"No, honestly, I haven't."
"It hit Mississippi on the seventeenth. The damage is catastrophic." Rory licked his lips.
"What?"
"What?"
"No, don't echo me. You have something you want to say but you're not saying it. What?"
"I've been asked to go down to Mississippi and help with the relief effort."
She wasn't sure how to feel. "Oh." Amy turned to leave again and heard Rory fold the newspaper.
"That's it?"
Amy shrugged. "You should go."
"Why?"
"You can help people."
"And you can continue looking for her. All by yourself."
Amy dug her nails into the doorframe. "I was pregnant with her all by myself, wasn't I? I gave birth to her all by myself, didn't I? I spent the first three weeks of her life—"
"I looked for you! I looked for you both! You know what? There is something I want to say! Damnit, Amy! I never even got to hold her!"
Amy blew around like a tornado, her hair spinning through the doorframe like a disc of fire. "And now she's somewhere in New York, maybe a block away from us, cold and alone and dying and nobody is there to hold her!"
Rory pushed off their bed. "I know! I know," he said, reigning in his emotions. "And what would you do if you found her?"
The tears began to spill down her cheeks, still cold from the night of searching. "I don't know." She flung her head back and forth, causing her hair to stick to her tears. "I went to Graystark Hall. I watched my younger self walk through the front doors. I could have changed everything; I could have saved her and brought her home."
"But you didn't."
"I can't change who she becomes; I can't erase River. It's not my right, just like it wasn't my right to kill the future me of the other time stream. But…"
"It does nothing for the longing."
Amy allowed Rory's wiry arms to encircle her and she buried her face into his neck. "It does nothing for the longing."
