"Apalapucia!" The Doctor cheered, dancing around the console as he eagerly set the course for a lovely day out.
"Say it again?" Amy blinked.
"Apalapucia!" Thea grinned.
"Apalapu.."
"Cia." The Doctor finished.
"Apalapucia." Rory got it in one.
"Apalapucia." Amy smiled, managing to say the word, "What a beautiful word."
"Beautiful word, beautiful world." The Doctor laughed.
"Peaceful too." Thea added, "sure you're not thinking of another planet. Somewhere more...thrilling."
"Oi!" He laughed, "I'll have you know that I can do peaceful."
"I'll believe it when I see it."
"Be prepared to be amazed, kiddo." He moved around the console, flicking a switch and leaning over to poke her nose.
"So what's so good about Apalapucia?" Rory shook his head.
"Apalapucia, voted number two planet in the top ten greatest destinations for the discerning intergalactic traveller."
"Why couldn't we go to number one?"
"Its a planet of coffee shops." Thea scrunched her nose in disgust.
"Too much caffeine." The Doctor explained to the humans, "doesn't mix with Thea. But Apalapucia!" He moved to the doors, "I give you sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades. I give you..." And threw them open only to be greet by a stark white room with a set of double doors around the end, like a lift with buttons on the side.
"Doors." Rory deadpanned.
"Doors." He stepped out, "Yes. I give you doors."
"Doors which lead to another room." Thea remarked as she rushed out of the TARDIS.
"But on the other side of those doors, I give you sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades."
Amy poked her head out of the box, "Have you seen my phone?"
"Your phone?" The Doctor looked back at her.
"Yeah."
"Your mobile telephone? I bring you to a paradise planet, two billion light years from Earth, and you want to update Twitter."
"She's got her phone." Amy pointed at Thea, "Sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades. It's a camera phone."
"On the counter, by the DVDs." Thea told her.
"Thank you." She headed back inside.
"How do we get in?" Rory wondered.
"You push a button," Thea stepped past him and looked at the two buttons on the side. Green Anchor and Red Waterfall. She hesitated over Red Waterfall before selecting Green Anchor and the door slid open to reveal another white room, though this one had a pair of white chairs and a table with a magnifying glass in the middle. "This is Apalapucia?"
"Okay," the Doctor faltered, "so rain check on the soaring silver colonnades."
They entered the room as the doors slid shut behind them.
"It's a magnifying glass." Rory remarked.
"More of a looking glass, I think." Thea eyed it as the Doctor peered through it.
"Hey?" They heard Amy through the doors, "Hey, it's locked."
"Yeah, push the button." Rory replied, but when Amy didn't enter, he stepped out, looking for his wife, "come on Amy." But she wasn't in the room with the parked TARDIS, "where is she? Where oh wherever is my wife?"
Thea plopped down in the chair before the magnifying glass, pushing a button on it as Amy appeared on the other side, as though she was sat on the other side of the table. But she wasn't.
"Found her." Thea called to Rory.
"What do you mean you've found her?" Rory stepped back in, seeing his wife in the magnifying glass, "Whoa." He stepped round to the other side where Amy should have been standing if she was in the room, "No, but, she's not, she's not here. I can see her, but she's not here."
"Where am I?" Amy frowned, "In fact, where are you?"
The door slid open and a robot with a blank face and real hands stepped in. The Doctor and Rory jumped at the sight of it as Thea remained seated, staring at Amy.
"Whoa!" Rory held up in hands.
"Hands!" The Doctor eyed the robot, "Hello, hands. Robot with hands, Rory."
"Welcome to the Twostreams facility." The robot spoke, "Will you be visiting long?"
"Er, Thea," Amy called, "something's happening."
"Amy." Thea frowned as the glass turned to static, showing Amy moving to different positions sped up.
"Amy!" The Doctor rushed over, "Times gone wobbly. I hate it when it does that."
"Will you be visiting long?" The robot asked, thrusting it's hand out to Rory.
He jumped back, "Good question. Bit sinister. What's the answer to not get us killed?"
Thea hit the top of the magnifying glass and the image settled, showing the woman curled up in the corner, "everything alright?"
"Will you be visiting long?" The robot repeated.
"Doctor?" Rory looked at them, "a little help, Thea?"
"And where have you been?" Amy asked tensely.
"What do I tell it?"
"I've been here a week!" Amy snapped at them.
"A week?" The Doctors eyes widened, "A week? I'm so sorry."
"Least its not 40 years." Thea offered, trying to lighten the mood.
"Same room, different times." the Doctor mused, "Two different time streams running parallel but at different speeds. Amy, you're in a faster time stream."
"Doctor, it's going again!" Amy groaned as the image turned to static again.
"Doctor!" Rory shouted as the robot reached it hand out to Rory, "Thea!"
"Amy!" The Doctor tried to get the image back.
"Doctor!" Amy screamed.
The Doctor pulled out his sonic, flashing it on the magnifying glass, "Come on. Gotcha." The image settled showing Amy now sitting on a chair with her feet up, "There. Stabilised, settled."
"Why has this got hands?" Rory asked as the handbot corner him.
The Doctor walked over, eying the robot, "Organic skin. Ultimate universal interface, grown and grafted, not born. I mean, it's actually seeing with its fingers, scanning the room. But why not just give it eyes?"
"Will you be visiting long?" The handbot asked.
"As long as it takes." Thea answered, not moving from her seat.
"Amy, what exactly did you do?" The Doctor queried.
"I just...I came in and I pressed the door button."
"Which one?" Thea winced, recalling there had been the red and green buttons. She had almost press red waterfall herself before decided on the green.
"I pushed the red waterfall."
"Great." Rory muttered, heading out of the room to find Amy only to return a moment later without her, "I pressed Red Waterfall, and she wasn't there."
"So, we can't follow directly. It's not simple!" Thea pouted, crossing her arms.
"Did you hear that, Handbot?" The Doctor turned to the robot, "she pressed the wrong button, that's all. We're aliens, we didn't know."
"Statement rejected." the Handbot stated, as a bight light lit up on its chest, "Apalapucia is under planet-wide quarantine. This is a kindness facility for those infected with Chen Seven."
The Doctor quickly hurried to Theas side, covering her nose and mouth with his jacket, using his other arm to cover his own nose and mouth.
"Chen Seven?" Thea squeaked.
"What's Chen Seven?" Rory asked, his voice muffled as he covered his own nose and mouth with his jacket. For them to react like that it clearly wasn't good.
"The one-day plague." The Doctor breathed.
"What, you get it for a day?"
"No, you get it, and you die in a day."
"There are 40,000 residents in the Twostreams Facility." The Handbot continued, "Please remain in the sterile areas. Visiting hours are now." It pushed its hands together and teleported away.
"Sterile area." The Doctor let out a long breath of relief. "We're safe." He squeezed Theas shoulders as he stood behind her, "you're safe." He lowered his head against hers, thankful she had pressed the green anchor button. That they weren't infected with the deadly disease. He had to believe that was her intuition peeking out, keeping them safe.
"Safe." Thea confirmed, feeling that as long as they didn't enter through red waterfall they wouldn't be infected.
Amy whacked the magnifying glass on her side, "What about me?"
"Chen Seven only affects two-hearted races like Apalapucians." The Doctor informed.
"Or Time Lords." Rory realised.
"Yeah, like us. Walk into that facility, we're dead in a day. Time moves faster on Amy's side of the glass."
"Amy," Thea frowned at her, "you said it's been a week...what did you eat?"
"Nothing." Amy blinked, realising that, "I wasn't hungry."
She nodded slowly, "red waterfall time is compressed."
"Brilliant." The Doctor grinned at her, "the Time Glass syncs up the two timestreams for visits. You could be in here for a day, and watch them live out their entire lives."
"And watch them grow old in front of your eyes?" Rory's eyes widened at that, "That's horrible."
"No, Rory, it's kind. You've got a choice. Sit by their bedside for 24 hours and watch them die, or sit in here for 24 hours and watch them live. Which would you choose?" He picked up the glass and moved around the room with it.
"Doctor?" Amy called, "Doctor, no, don't leave me."
The Doctor moved around the room with the glass, the three of them looking through it to see Amy sat at the table, "I'm here, Amy. I'm right here."
"Where are you? Am I looking at you?"
"Turn left just a fraction." She moved slightly, "Bit more. Stop. That's it."
"Eye to eye?"
"Eye to eye to eye to eye."
"Hello." Rory called.
"Amy, I'm taking the Time Glass back to the TARDIS." The Doctor told her, "Like satnav, I'll use it to get a lock, then smash through using TARDIS to get you out. Until then, you're on your own." He soniced the glass.
"Er, what are you doing?" Rory asked him.
"Locking it on to Amy. Small act of vandalism..."
"Don't say it." Thea warned.
"...No one will mind." The alarms went off. "Ah, that'll be the small act of vandalism alarm."
"I told you."
"Amy, I need you to go into the facility just for a bit. Find somewhere safe and leave me a sign. Remember, you're immune to Chen Seven, but don't let them give you anything. They don't know you're alien. Their kindness will kill you. Now go."
They watched as Amy pressed the 'check in' button and, turned to them, "Rory, I love you. Now save me. Go on."
The door slid shut behind her as Rory stared, solemn.
"You can't save your wife if you're just stood there." Thea remarked, "come on."
They ran out of the room.
~.~
The Doctor set the time glass on the console, "This is locked onto Amy permanently. Play the signal into the console, the TARDIS'll follow it." He connected a cable to the time glass as it sparked and smoked a bit before he ran to a small tool chest, "Now then, I know you're in here. Er, er, ha ha!" He pulled out a pair of thick rimmed glasses, turning to the others, "How do I look?"
"Ridiculous." Both Rory and Thea said.
"Glasses are cool, see?" He set the glasses on Rorys nose, "Oh, yes. Hello, handsome man."
"Oh, hello." Rory smiled a bit.
"There's a camera in the glasses, Rory." Thea laughed, turning the monitor on to show they could see what he saw.
He frowned, "Oh, you can see what I see."
"Rory-cam!" Thea cheered, "is that really what my hair looks like in the back?" She wondered, looking into the monitor.
"It's fine." The Doctor rolled his eyes at her.
"I guess I've had worse bad hair days."
"We're breaking into Twostreams." The Doctor continued, "Now, we can't go in there. The Chen Seven'll kill us, no regeneration. So, you..." He spun to Thea, "stay close."
"Yes, because I'm going to leave the safety of the TARDIS to get infected with Chen Seven." She rolled her eyes back at him.
"You," the Doctor spun to Rory, "will be our eyes and ears."
"Rory-cam." He nodded, "Rescue Amy. Got it."
"That's the spirit. Now, smashing through a timewall could get a bit hairy."
"Is it safe?"
"Not at all!" Thea called, "ready?"
"No." Rory shook his head.
"Hold on!" She shouted and threw down a lever as the box jerked and threw them around as they forced they way through the two Time streams.
~.~
The Doctor and Thea watched on the monitor as Rory stepped out of the TARDIS, wearing the glasses with the Time glass attached over his shoulder, along with the Doctors sonic in his pocket, into a white room, a gallery of some sort with artwork around, the red waterfall logo on the wall.
"Red Waterfall." Rory cheered over the comm. "We made it."
"Good old us." The Doctor grinned.
"And good job mum." Thea added, patting the console as the TARDIS hummed.
"How do we know that we're in the same Red Waterfall as Amy?" Rory asked.
"Focus on the positive." The Doctor remarked, "We locked onto Amy's timestream." He covered his hands over Theas eyes as Rorys gaze drifted to Venis Di Milos breasts.
"Men." Thea scoffed, "always with the breasts."
"What?" Rory startled and quickly adverted his eyes.
"Thea!" The Doctor chastised.
"I mean, I get it, I do, but not in public, and Rory, you're married the only breasts you should have your eyes on is Amys."
"Apalapucians are the great cultural scavengers, Rory." The Doctor explained to him, quickly changing the topic, before Thea could go on a tangent, he didn't want to hear whatever she thought about a certain womans' breasts and he knew Rory wouldn't either, "This gallery's a scrapbook of their favourite places."
They watched as Rory wandered through the gallery, "Bit of Earth, bit of alien, bit of...whatever the hell that is." He looked around, "where is everyone?"
"In their own individual time streams." Thea answered.
"Right, Rory, switch the Time Glass on and sonic it." The Doctor told him, as he did so, "I'm sending a command signal to the screwdriver. Amy's here somewhere, if I can just get a lock on her. I wonder what happens if we mix the filters?"
Rory held up the time glass, looking through it to see people milling about, all out of focus.
"And there they are." The Doctor nodded, "40,000 time streams overlapping."
"40,000 time streams...this might be tricky." Thea bit her lip.
"Are they happy?" Rory asked, not really seeing how trickery things could get.
"Oh, Rory." The Doctor sighed, "Trust you to think of that. I think they're happy to be alive. Better than the alternative."
Rory lowered the time glass only to see someone in pieced together armour and visor, charging at him with a katana, sending him to the floor on his back, "I come in peace." He held his hands up, "Peace, peace, peace, peace!"
"Uh oh." Theas eyes widened as she stared at the monitor, looking at the woman with the sword and red hair through Rorys eyes.
"I waited." The voice was computerised but they could still recognise it as a woman's.
Rory shook his head, "Sorry, what?"
"I waited for you." She pulled her sword back, "I waited for you." And lifted up her visor to reveal...an older version of Amy.
"Amy." Rory breathed. "Doctor, what's going on?"
"Er," the Doctor hesitated.
"Amy," Rory slowly stood, careful to not make sudden movements around the woman the sword.
"I think the timestream lock might be a bit wobbly."
Amy raised her sword, ready to strike as Rory held up his hands, "No, please. Please."
"Duck." Amy told him as Thea shouted over the comm.
Rory ducked, keeping his eye on Amy as she put her sword through a Handbots head as it snuck up behind him and moved to work on the robot.
"Handbots carry a black box in case they go offline." Amy muttered, "I've changed the cause of termination from hostile to accidental. Easy to re-programme. Used my sonic probe."
"Amy."
She stood and faced him, "Rory."
"Why?"
"Because I've survived this long by making the Handbots think I don't exist. Don't touch the hands. There's anaesthetic transfer on the skin. If they touch you, you go to sleep."
"But you're still here?"
"You didn't save me." Was all she said as she turned and stormed off.
Rory ran after her, "But, this is the saving. This is the us saving you. The Doctor just got the timing a bit out."
The Doctor winced, "Sorry." He mouthed, not that the humans could see him.
"I've been on my own here a long, long time." Amy continued, not looking back, "I've had decades to think nice thoughts about him. Got a bit harder to stay charitable once I entered decade 4."
"40 years?" Rory gaped, "Alone."
"36 years, thanks." She glared.
"No. Right. I mean, you look great. Really, really."
"Eyes front, soldier."
"Still can't win then?" Rory tried to joke.
"In fact, I think I can now definitely say I hate him." Amy stated, "I hate The Doctor. I hate him more than I've ever hated anyone in my life," they saw Amy's faze flicker to Rory, to the glasses he wore, "and you can hear every word of this through those ridiculous glasses, can't you, Raggedy Man?"
"Er, yes." The Doctor flicked a switch on the console, "putting the speaker phone on."
"You told me to wait, and I did. A lifetime."
"Amy..." Thea began.
"And don't you start." Amy snapped, "you're as bad as him. You've got nothing to say to me."
"Behind you!" Thea cried.
They saw Amy spin around as two more Handbots advanced behind her. She tossed Rory her sword, dropping down and pressing the Handbots hands together.
"Feedback." She said as the robots powered down, "Knocks them out. Learned that trick on my first day."
"It's impressive." Thea offered, but Amy had already turned back.
"Okay, so we just take the TARDIS back to the right time stream, yeah?" Rory tried to reason. "We can stop any of this happening."
"We locked on to a timestream, Rory." The Doctor told him, "This is it."
"This is so wrong."
"I got old, Rory." Amy scoffed, "What did you think was going to happen?"
"Hey," Rory reached out to grab her arm to stop her, "I don't care that you got old. I care that we didn't grow old together. Amy, come on, please."
Amy yanked her arm back from him, "Don't touch me." She glared, "Don't do that."
"It's like you're not even her."
"36 years, 3 months, 4 days of solitary confinement. This facility was built to give people the chance to live." Amy turned to them as she stood before a set of doors, "I walked in here and I died. Do you have anything to say?" She peered through the glasses, "Anything, Doctor?"
"Where did you get a sonic screwdriver?" The Doctor chuckled.
"I made it." She glared at him, "And it's a sonic probe."
"You made a sonic screwdriver?" Rory gasped.
"Probe." She corrected, before turning and stepped through the doors. Rory quickly followed through to the Temporal Engine Room, and after Amy passing the Engines and through a make shift curtain, into a small living quarter she had made for herself.
"Oh." Rory startled seeing a Handbot standing there as it turned around, he could see the smiley face drawn on.
"Don't worry about him." Amy waved him off, "sit down, Rory."
Both Rory and the Handbot sat, "You named him after me?" Rory asked.
"Needed a bit of company."
"So, he's like your..."
"Pet."
"Is it safe?" He asked.
"She disarmed it." Thea answered instead, seeing the Handbot had no hands. Literally disarmed.
"Oh." Rory blinked.
"Oh, don't get sentimental," Amy rolled her eyes, "it's just a robot. You'd have done the same."
"I don't know that I would have." The Doctor called.
"And there he is." Amy spat, "The voice of God. Survive, because no one's going to come for you. Number one lesson." She looked straight into the glasses, "You taught me that."
"Is that really all I taught you?"
"Don't you lecture me, blue-box man flying through time and space on whimsy. All I've got, all I've had for 36 years, is cold, hard reality. So no, I don't have a sonic screwdriver because I'm not off on a romp. I call it what it is. A probe. And I call my life what it is...hell."
"Please." Thea muttered under her breath.
"Got something to say?" Amy rounded on her, "Sweet little Thea, who can do no wrong."
"Don't call me sweet, but here you are complaining about waiting 36 years, in a place full of things to do and see, are you forgetting Rory waited 2000 years for you outside the Pandorica. Close your mouth." She said as Amy opened her mouth to argue back, "I'm not done. You have the most magnificent man who would do anything for you. Would willing wait millennials with nothing but a stone wall to look at just to ensure you would be safe. And has done exactly that! And you're complaining because were a few years late? Get your priorities in order, at least neither of you are dead!"
Amy opened her mouth to argue again, when Thea words caught up to her and she frowned instead.
The way the girl had said that. She knew Thea had a few years of missing memories of her life, but she rarely spoke about her childhood anyone, none of them questioned it or even tried to help possible trigger a memory. She couldnt help but think that maybe Thea did at one point in her life have her own version of Rory Williams. Had a relationship, maybe even a serious one, she claimed to be ready to be married, she could have been so close to being married.
Perhaps it had even been that friend of hers who she had left Gallifrey with in the first place. The first she hardly spoke about and claimed to be dead.
"Amy Pond," the Doctor interrupted Amys thoughts, "I am going to put this right. You said you learned from an interface. Can I speak with it?"
"Doesn't work in here," Amy checked her watch "2:23. The garden'll be clear now." She glanced at Rory, "Stay or go?"
"Sorry, me?" He shook his head, "No, I'm coming with you."
"Then try not to get killed. Or do. Whatever."
~.~
Thea tilted her head as she looked through the Rory-cam as the two humans stood in the gardens, "freaky hedges. Beautiful but weird."
It was like the gardens were just a mixture from other places the Apalapucians loved, none of the hedges or pillars seemed to belong, especially not together. Separated it was beautiful but together it was just...odd.
"When I first came here, I had to trick the Interface into giving me the information," Amy explained to Rory, "but I've reprogrammed it now. It'll tell me anything except how to escape."
"You hacked it?" Rory asked, impressed, "That's genius."
"Sorry to interrupt that beautiful moment," the Doctor cut in, "but temporal engines like that have a regulator valve. Has to be kept at a distance from the main reactor or there'd be feedback. Interface, where's the regulator?"
A hologram appeared on the monitor, showing the plans and layout, "The regulator valve is held within." The interface said as Thea moved round the console to download the information.
"Oh. Very, very 'ah'." The Doctor nodded, "Isn't that interesting, kiddo?"
"Very 'ah,'" she agreed, "Interface, we need to run through some technical specifications. Amy, can you take the glasses for a sec?
"Here you go." Rory removed the glasses and they saw as he tried to put them on her face only for her to jerk away so he handed them to her so she could put them on herself.
"They look ridiculous." Amy muttered.
"That's what Thea and I told him. Still, anything beats a fez, eh?" They both laughed but Amy suddenly stopped, "What is it?"
"I think that's the first time I've laughed in 36 years."
Rory cleared his throat, "I'll just, er, leave you three geniuses alone. I'll be back in a minute." He walked off.
"There's still time, Amy." The Doctor told her, "There's still time to fix everything."
"But not right now!" Thea suddenly gasped, "Amy, Rory!"
Amy took off, running, trusting Theas feeling to find Rory on the ground, a Handbot standing over him, it's head open to fire a dart at him when she cut its head off.
Thea let out a low whistle, "nice swording."
"Oh..." Rory groaned.
"Rory?" Amy knelt besides him.
"Glasses."
"You stupid..." She stood back up.
"Oh. You saved me."
"Don't get used to it."
"Have you been crying? A little bit."
"Shut up, Rory."
"You have, haven't you?"
"Woman with a sword." She warned, "Don't push it."
"Ok. So, here's the plan." The Doctor began, "Time is always a bit wibbly-wobbly, but in Twostreams it's extra wobbly." They watched as Amy handed Rory the glasses again, "I've worked out how to hijack the Temporal Engines and use them to fold two points of Amy's timeline together. We're bringing her out of the then and into the now. Amy, I just need to borrow your brain a minute. It won't hurt, probably. Almost probably and then Amy Pond, I'm going to save you."
Amy glared at them through the glasses, "No!" She shouted and stormed off, "Time's up. Handbots coming."
"Amy, we can't help you if you don't let us!" Thea called after the woman.
The Doctor nodded, as Rory rushed after his wife, "I need you to think back 36 years ago. Amy? Amy!"
Rory paused as the doors to the Temporal Engine Room shut behind Amy, lifting the Time glass to reveal the message she had left in her lipstick 'Doctor, I'm here' with an arrow pointing to the doors. "You told her to leave us a sign. And she did. And she waited." He lowered the glass and followed Amy before the curtains, "Oh Amy, why won't you help yourself?"
"He wants to rescue past me from 36 years back, which means I'll cease to exist." Amy told him, "Everything I've seen and done dissolves. Time is rewritten."
He stopped, "that's...that's good, isn't it?"
"I will die. Another Amy will take my place. An Amy who never got trapped at Twostreams, an Amy who grew old with you, and she, in 36 years, won't be me."
"But you'll die in here!"
"Not if you take me with you. You came to rescue me, so rescue me."
"Leave her and take you?"
"We could take this Amy..." Thea began slowly.
"But if we do, our Amy has to wait 36 years to be rescued." The Doctor warned.
"So, I have to choose." Rory breathed, "Which wife do I want?"
"She is me." Amy insisted, "We're both me."
"You being here is wrong. For a single day, an hour, let alone a lifetime. I swore to protect you. I promised!"
Without a word Amy walked through the curtain to the living quarters she had made.
"Rory..." The Doctor began.
"This is your fault." Rory told him.
"I'm so sorry, but, Rory..."
"No, this is your fault!" He snapped and Thea flinched at his sudden raised voice, "You should look in a history book once in a while, see if there's an outbreak of plague or not."
"That is not how I travel."
"Then I do not want to travel with you!" Rory yelled, throwing the glass to the ground.
The Doctor and Thea winced at the sound of screeching feedback before...they heard someone softly crying.
"Rory..." Thea called gently. She didn't want him to yell at her again, but she knew he would want to know what they could hear, "is the Time Glass still on? We can hear Amy...our Amy."
With the glasses still on the ground they could see what was happening but could hear Rory, "Oh, Amy." They heard footsteps and the rustling of the curtain as Rorys voice went quieter as he stepped away from the glass but it was still clear enough for them to hear, "Look me in the face and say you won't help her."
"I will not help her." Amy stated.
"Ok, ok. Look me in the face and say it now."
Thea turned and muted the comm link, allowed them privacy as Rory tried to save his wife's.
The Doctor moved around the console, resting his arms over Theas shoulders, "you alright?"
"No," she answered honestly, "I don't like this."
"Neither do I." He pressed a kiss to her hair, "it'll be alright in the end."
She nodded, closing her eyes and preying to all the possible gods in the universe that it wouldn't come to the worst possible thing.
~.~
The Doctor glanced at the monitor seeing Rory the Handbot handing human Rory the glasses again and a moment later Amy stepped out from behind the curtain. He quickly turned the comm back onto hear her say; "I'm going to pull time apart for you." Before she stepped over to him, hugging and crying.
"That's so adorable." Thea sighed, resting her elbows on console.
"No." The Doctor pointed at her.
"I want that."
"I said no."
"Wouldn't you rather I had a guy like that than, I dunno...a guy who..."
"Careful with your next words, kiddo."
"A guy who dates me just to see the universe." She offered.
"Ok, Doctor, Twostreams is back on air." Older Amy declared as she led Rory out of the engine room, "right, ok, so this is big news. This is temporal earthquake time. I am now officially changing my own future. Hold on to your spectacles. In my past, I saw my future self refuse to help you. I'm now changing that future and agreeing. Every law of time says that shouldn't be possible."
"But sometimes knowing your future is what helps you change it." Thea remarked.
"Especially if you're bloody minded, contradictory and completely unpredictable." The Doctor added.
"So basically, if you're Amy, then?" Rory joked.
"Yes, if anyone could defeat pre-destiny, It's your wife."
"It's not about what I'm doing, but who I'm doing it for." Older Amy told them, "I'm trusting you to watch my back, Rory."
"Always." He swore, "You and me, always."
"Because here's the deal." He looked directly into the glasses, "You take me, too. In the TARDIS. Me too."
The Time Lords looked at each other.
"But that means that there'll be two of you. Permanently. Forever."
"And that way we both get to live."
"Two Amys together. Can that work?"
"I don't know." The Doctor said slowly, not wanting to say it, that one Amy was all they could take. "It's your marriage."
"Doctor!"
"It would cause a paradox." Thea warned them, "but maybe if we shunted the reality compensators on the TARDIS?" She swallowed, glancing at the Doctor as he stared at her for her lies, "re-calibrated the Doomsday bumpers and jettisoned the karaoke bar..." she bit her lip thankful Amy and Rory couldnt see her. Even they could see a lie that big, "we could do it. The TARDIS could sustain the paradox."
And if that didn't work, well, then she'd be down to connect herself to the TARDIS and merge the Paradox to herself so both Amys would live.
The Doctor squeezed her hand. They needed to get Amy to work with them and lying to save her was the only way to ensure she would help save their Amy.
"Right." Rory took a breath, "Amy and Amy." They saw on the monitor as he held up the time glass to see younger Amy standing where they were but in her own time, "The wife and the wife. Right. Right."
"Okay." The Doctor nodded, "Amy, Past Amy, stand by the door. Future Amy, you too. Future Amy, can I borrow your sonic scr...probe?"
"It's a screwdriver!" Older Amy laughed through the glasses as she handed it to Rory.
"Rory, sonic it. Double our power. Amy Now, you're our link to Amy Then. We need to get a signal through, and that signal will be a thought."
"Just one thought." Thea added, "the same one."
"Something so powerful that it can rip through time. Rory sonic the plinth front." The Doctor instructed, "Inside you'll find three levers and a jumble of wiring. That's the regulator valve. After we re-route it, you have..."
"Ten minutes to get back to the TARDIS." Thea told them.
"Ok." Rory nodded.
"Pull out the red and green receptors. Re-route the blue into the red and the green into blue. Leave the red loose and on no account touch anything yellow. Come on, Rory. It's hardly rocket science. It's just quantum physics."
"Yes, right." Rory muttered, working away, "Blue into red and then green..."
"Now, the levers. Throw them in order."
"And Amys, start thinking the most important thought you have ever had." Thea told them, "Do not let go of that thought."
"Lever one."
Rory pulled down the lever as they heard Amy, both of them, muttering "macarena."
"She's doing the Macarena." Rory realised, "Our first kiss."
"Aww," Thea smiled, "lever two, Rory." she reminded him gently.
He pulled down the second lever as an image of younger Amy began to flicker in front of older Amy.
Rory pulled down the third lever as spark flew from the console, as the TARDIS struggled to fly away but they kept her steady. They worked frantically to keep the box calm as the two Amys spoke to each other but they were too busy to pay attention to that.
"Rory, the glasses!" Thea shouted, "take them off, you're getting temporal feedback." She jumped back from a small explosion from the console, "its alright," She soothed, "calm down."
"Rory, Amy, we've created a massive paradox and the TARDIS hates it." The Doctor called, "She's self-phasing, trying to get out of here. What's the nasty Amy done to you. Just calm down, dear. Hang on in there. Rory, you've got eight minutes left. I'm sorry, you're on your own now."
The glasses sparked and the monitor turned to static, cutting off their communication to the trio.
"Come on, old girl." Thea mumbled, "just 8 minutes, you can handle that." She hissed, a spark hitting the back of her hand and she jumped back as the Doctor frantically worked the other half of the console.
~.~
The Doctor looked up, realising Thea wasn't working the controls and saw the chameleon arch lowering from the ceiling, "what are you doing?"
"If I connect myself to the TARDIS, merge the paradox to me we can save them both. They can both live!"
"No." He leapt round and grabbed the Chameleon Arch, "it would kill you."
"If anything, it would trigger a regeneration."
"Same thing."
"But she's out there!" She cried.
"You're life is not worth dying for to save any of them!"
"But...they only have one."
He closed his eyes at that, realising what she was doing and why. She thought that he would want to save both Amys because they were Amy, they were both his companions and they were human and in the past he had always put the humans first, because their life's were short and their bodies were vulnerable. She was willing to sacrifice herself for a human he had only known for a few years, but to her, she saw his companions as such big parts of his life's that her death was necessary.
A tiny sacrifice to save them both.
He opened his eyes and placed his hands on shoulders, "No one is more important that you." He told her, "you will always come first."
"I never come first." Thea murmured.
"You do to me."
They looked over as the doors burst open to see Rory running inside with their Amy unconscious in his arms. Thea ran over as Rory laid on her own the floor, "it's just an anaesthetic." She assured him, "She'll be fine."
Seeing Rory and Thea were focused on Amy, the Doctor ran to the doors, looking out to see Older Amy dropping her weapons and making a break for the box, "I'm sorry." He whispered, before slamming the doors shut, locking her out.
"What are you doing?" Rory demanded, hearing the door shut to see he hadn't let Older Amy in.
"I lied to her, Rory." He said, solemn, "There can never be two Amys in the TARDIS. The paradox is too massive."
"You can't leave her. She'll die."
"Doctor, let me in!" Older Amy pounded on the doors.
"No, she'll never have existed. When we save our Amy, this future won't have happened."
"Let it be known...I'm against this." Thea murmured, but made no move to leave Amys side to let the Older Amy inside.
She wanted to help, to save them both, she really did, but the Doctor was right. It wasn't worth her dying for, not when the woman would fade away, like she never happened.
"But she happened!" Rory cried, "She's there."
"I trusted you!" Older Amy shouted.
"No, she's not real." The Doctor shook his head.
"She is real." Rory insisted, "Let her in."
"Look, we take this Amy, we leave ours. Only one Amy in the TARDIS. Which one do you want?" The Doctor asked, moving Rorys hand onto the latch, "It's your choice."
"This isn't fair. You're turning me into you."
"Your choice, Rory." The Doctor whispered, heading back to the console his head bowed, hating that it had come to this.
"Thea, please." Rory looked at her, "they're has to be some way..."
She looked at him, wanting to tell him that it was possible. "Well," she began.
"Her plan is to kill herself." The Doctor cut in, seeing Rory looking hopeful at Thea and he was not about to let Rory insist of completing it to save them both and risk her.
"What?" Rorys eyes widened as he stared at Thea. She turned away from him.
"Doctor?" Older Amy screamed as she continued to bang on the doors, "Doctor! Doctor? Thea? Rory, please..." Thea stepped away as Older Amy rested her hand on the glass panel, "The look on your face when you carried her. Me. Her. When you carried her away. You used to look at me like that. I'd forgotten how much you loved me. I'd forgotten how much I loved being her. Amy Pond, in the TARDIS, with Rory Williams."
"I'm sorry, I can't do this." Rory moved to unlock the door.
"If you love me, don't let me in." Older Amy spoke, making him pause, "Open that door, I will, I'll come in. I don't want to die. I won't bow out bravely. I'll be kicking and screaming, fighting. To the end."
"Amy." Rory sniffled, "Amy, I love you."
"I love you, too. Don't let me in. Tell Amy, your Amy, I'm giving her the days. The days with you. The days to come.
"I'm so, so sorry."
"The days I can't have. Take them, please. I'm giving you my days."
"I'm so, so sorry." Rory let go of the latch and turned away, hearing the Handbots outside.
Thea flinched, quickly sending them off so that Older Amy would simply fade away before the Handbots could kill her.
~.~
They stood in silence in the console room, Amy now sat on the jumpseat with the Doctors coat over her, still knocked out.
"Did you always know it would never work?" Rory asked them, "Saving both Amys?"
"I promised you I'd save her, and there she is." The Doctor nodded to Amy, "Safe."
"Yeah, there she is." Rory looked down as Amy began to stir. "You all right?" he smiled at Amy as she hummed, "How are you feeling?"
"Where is she?" Amy frowned, looking around for her older self.
"Well, you see, paradoxes..." The Doctor began.
"You left her to die?" Amys eyes widened in accusation.
Rory moved from his wife side, not needing to listen to her give the Doctor an earful about leaving her older self to die as he moved to Thea sides as she stood silently before the console, staring at something she was tucking away in the ceiling. He didn't want to know what was kept up there.
"I'm sorry I lied." She blurted out, "that we could save them both."
"You did what you had to do to save her." He sighed.
It was awful and he hated it, but he did understand why they had lied. If they had admitted to Older Amy they could only save one, she would know he would want to save his Amy rather than her so she wouldn't help. Letting them think they could save her as well want what got her to help save their Amy.
It was horrible and he never wanted to do it again, but he at least understood they'd shut Older Amy out, making that decision for him.
"Would you really have killed yourself if it meant saving both Amys?" He asked her.
"I couldn't have done what you did." She sighed.
"Lucky you'll never have too."
"I had a relationship, Rory." She admitted as his eyes widened, "I left Gallifrey with a friend." She reminded him. "If I had to do what you did to save them, i'd think damn the paradoxes."
"Not so much a friend as you keep saying then."
"I loved them." She admitted.