A/N- Hello my luverlies! Sorry it's been soo long in between posts, but my computer crashed and so access has been severely limited. If I want to write I need to first write it out... *cringes* longhand, which due to physical impairments and the speed at which my mind works is horrible! Anyway, I have 2 connected-ish chapters I've been working on, and this is technically the second one, but since it's AU and chapter 1 isn't, it doesn't matter. Plus, it's all typed out, so bonus to you! Again- it's AU in that the timeline doesn't work at all, but it was a fun idea, so who cares?
I should also mention other than "The Sound of Music," I have pretty much no knowledge of how convents really work.
Reviews are lovely, as are all you wonderful patient people!
"How're you feeling, Amy?" Rory asked only to be met with a glare that would have sent armies away faster than the Doctor.
"We made some dry toast for you," River offered, Amy's gaze turning sharply to her now.
She approached the table warily, took one look at Rory's breakfast, and turned quickly to run back to the toilet.
Rory went after her before he was chased out by vehement threats to his person, and ran to get some tea for his wife.
River met her at the door when she finally lumbered out, miserable and on the verge of tears. Amy smacked her hard as she passed.
"Ow! What was that for?" she yelped.
"This is your fault and Rory said I'm not allowed to punish a child in-utero."
"So now there has to actually be a rule against hurting the unborn?"
"There does when she constantly makes me feel as though my actual insides are trying to leave my body. Violently." Then she flopped down carefully on the bed, rolling into a ball and trying very hard to ignore the constant roiling of her stomach. She let out a tired, defeated sigh.
"Mum?" River ventured, eyes filling with pity for the wretchedness her mother was currently enduring on her behalf.
"When will it be over?" she asked in a small voice, and River was quick to soothe her, horrified to see Amy's eyes wet and face exhausted in misery.
"A little while yet," she tried, unsure just how long her mother had/would endure morning sickness.
"I-" Amy started, picking absent-mindedly at the bedclothes, "I don't know how much longer I can take feeling like this," she whispered brokenly.
River didn't know what else to do– hating that her mother was in pain, that it was technically her fault, and that she was helpless to stop it. So she climbed carefully onto the bed on Rory's side, pulled Amy's head into her lap, and ran her fingers through her hair soothingly, letting Amy cling miserably to her knees and allow the tears to flow silently.
Rory came in with some tea and approached them cautiously.
"Amy?" he ventured.
"This is your fault, too," she whimpered without heat, unwilling to forego her current position to take the proffered drink.
"I know," he conceded, setting the drink down on the bedside table and climbing in gingerly behind his wife. He rubbed her back, careful not to jolt the bed.
"I just want this to be over already," Amy confided. "I want to sleep more than an hour and feel rested when I wake up. I want to be able to be twenty steps away from a toilet and to actually taste my food before I am rid of it again. I don't want to do this anymore," she said again on a sigh.
River bent down, laying a kiss in her mother's hair. "I know, love. I'm so, so sorry."
"It's- it's not really something you had control of," Amy allowed at last, "have control of. This never gets any less confusing."
"I'm still sorry," River said with a small huff of laughter, about to continue when Rory cut her off.
"I can't really say that I am," Rory surprised them.
Both women looked towards him, only to see a determination and fire in his eyes.
He got up, pulling an album from a shelf in the corner. Then he brought it to the bed, pulling out the photo from their first scan and handing it to Amy.
"Look at her, Amy," he said reverently, indicating their currently-forming daughter in the photo. "I know I can't fix this– that I can't make you better, and I wish more than anything that I could, but look at her," he reiterated, a small smile coming to his face as he handed Amy the scan, placing his hand to gently caress her belly and the child within. "She's going to be perfect," he declared, now looking up at the woman that baby will one day become.
"I know," Amy sighed, closing her eyes and clutching the photo to her with one hand, the other clutching her daughter's knee for comfort. "I know."
River continued to run her fingers gently through Amy's hair, trying to will her to a level of comfort she hadn't felt in weeks. Finally, she reached out and picked up the album, laying another kiss on Amy's head as she opened it.
"Do you remember that time we accidentally knocked over that vase in that museum?" she asked fondly.
Amy huffed out a weak chuckle. "Took us a half hour before we lost the guards. Then we had to hide in that one building that we didn't know was a convent, and you tried to convince the Mother Superior we wanted to become nuns."
Both Rory and River snorted at the thought, Amy still smiling at the memory.
"She didn't have to sound so disbelieving that I could be holy," River maintained, chin slightly raised in protest.
"You nicked a habit, River!" Amy scolded, pointing to the mischievous dark "nun" in the photo.
"Made use of it later, didn't you?" River challenged, turning the page to a kiss-o-gram Amy at a party wearing the ill-acquired outfit next to an "angel" Mels.
"Hmm," she agreed. "Oh, this is when Brian took us to see that waterfall, remember?" she said, pointing to the three of them happily standing near a beautiful lake.
"That's not the trip I remember," Rory said with a slight furrow in his brow, turning the page to reveal a soaking wet Amy and Rory and smug-looking dry Mels standing off to the side. "That is."
"Well... you two said you wanted to see the waterfall up close," River argued.
"From the land-side, River, not from the lake-side," Rory huffed.
"My mistake," she shrugged, looking as innocent as River Song never was.
"Besides, we got her back," Amy said haughtily, turning the page to until she found a paint-drenched Mels in her school uniform.
"Last time I ever let you two near a water pisto-, actually, we should save that for when the Doctor's being particularly difficult."
Amy laughed, before sitting up suddenly, Rory moving to grab the closest bin as she grabbed River's hand and squeezed, shutting her eyes tight and taking slow, deep breaths.
"Okay?" River asked, rubbing her back in comforting circles.
Amy took a few more deep breaths, her face scrunching up in misery once more, before she opened newly-wet eyes and caressed her belly soothingly. She nodded.
"Tell me more about what we're going to do together, River," she pleaded, looking down at her barely-showing bump. "Remind me why we're worth it."
"Oh, Mother. We're going to do everything together." River said, wrapping her arm around Amy's shoulders, pulling her head to her again. "Me and you and Rory. Our family and the universe," she whispered into her hair, letting Amy squeeze her hand once more.
Rory took the brunt of his wife's weight against his chest, so she leant on him with only her head supported by her daughter, and rubbed his thumb gently over her stomach in an effort to soothe the baby within.
"We're going to learn so much from each other," River continued, turning the pages of the album slowly, letting the pages of her life bring her mother the hope she needed to make it another sick-filled day, "and get so angry with each other," another page, two girls with similar glares on their faces, arms crossed as they stared at the camera begrudgingly, "and laugh so hard," the same two girls, this time smiling widely, their arms around each other, whatever argument they'd been having long forgotten. "You're my best friend, Mum," photo after photo, a variation of their family again and again and again, "and we are so worth it," she continued quietly, still stroking Amy's hair as her breathing evened out as she relaxed in her daughter and husband's arms.
"Amy?" Rory whispered, continuing his soft, soothing caresses on her belly.
"Mmm," was the only reply, Amy's eyes now closed, her face more peaceful than they'd seen in a while, her daughter's embrace calming her as nothing else had.
Three hours later, they carefully laid her back on the bed, and she snuggled on the pillows, still ensconced in much-needed elusive sleep. River smoothed her hair back from her face, gently squeezing the strong maternal hand that was already embracing her in her mother's belly, and she leant down to lay one last kiss on Amy's forehead, whispering the only words she had for the mother who was already enduring so much for her.
"Thank you, Mum."
Then she smiled, kissed Amy's belly with a light, ironic laugh, and let her mother rest.