- thirty-seventh year waiting -

[nurse-boy.livejournal.com]

[dictated]

[alone on a bed in the medbay on Eleven's TARDIS, Rory Williams wakes up from a week-long sleep. He feels extremely disoriented and doesn't really remember collapsing in the castle lobby--there's so many new memories to process this time around, two thousand years' worth and then some--and he's got a pounding headache. But both of these are minor concerns when, upon regaining consciousness, the first thing he realizes is that he has a heartbeat. A pulse. And he's breathing. Not because he can, but because he has to. Which can only mean one thing:

He's gone home. And he's come back human again.

The realization hits him like a sucker punch to the chest and he makes to bolt upright into a sit, grabbing frantically at his right hand to check for the hinge--except his head throbs like it's been hit with a sledgehammer and a wave of nausea crashes over him. He sinks back onto his bed with a groan, squeezing his eyes shut and grimacing in pain. Okay, maybe the headache's not such a minor concern after all.

Swallowing to wet his dry throat, he croaks out:]

Amy? ... Doctor? Wha ...?

((open like an open thing! Rory's back from a trip home and has been canon-bumped up through Series 6, Episode 7: A Good Man Goes To War. He's no longer an Auton (buh-bye plasticness and handy gun in his hand!) and brings with him a metric fuckton of new emotional baggage courtesy of the Doctor and River Song))

Comments

[hullo-sweetie.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure. I suppose we go on with our lives here....

I can't deny, it's going to be awkward for awhile.

[nurse-boy.livejournal.com]

[he laughs quietly. No kidding]

Well--I meant you and me, really, how do we ... [he's having trouble articulating it] How do we do this? I don't even know how to be a dad.

[another short laugh, and then suddenly a horrible thought occurs to him--he's assuming she wants a father in the first place. Backpedal time--]

I mean--that is, um ... if you--if you even want to. Look at you. [awkwardly gestures at her] You're an adult now, you don't need a dad ...

[hullo-sweetie.livejournal.com]

Ah, that.

[She hasn't really had a father figure, not for a very long time. As she reflects on what she knows about Rory's future, her heart sinks in her chest. Rory was a good man, the very best]

You're welcome to give it a shot. Just don't go trying to set a curfew or anything.

[nurse-boy.livejournal.com]

[he laughs again, but this time it's amused if still weak]

Oh, no, I wouldn't dare ... you don't need one of those either. Like I said. [gestures again] You're grown.

[also again, he doesn't know whether to feel relieved or disappointed (or anything at all). He's still desperately mourning the loss of his baby and struggling to accept that he will likely not see her again until she no longer needs him--assuming she'll ever need him at all. He won't ever have the chance to build an early bond with her. And when children become adults their relationship with their parents oftentimes turns into something more like friends ... so his relationship with River will likely not change at all. They'll go on as they have been, just with the added knowledge that they're father and daughter.

Despite the circumstances, he still can't help but feel heartbroken over that]

I haven't told Amy.

[hullo-sweetie.livejournal.com]

It'll be a trial and error process. Like many things in life

[She manages a small smile, even though Rory looks like someone ripped out his still beating heart]

Tell her as little as you possibly can.....

[nurse-boy.livejournal.com]

[he's still vaguely smiling, but here it turns sad again]

I tried. [he looks up at her] She was here when I woke up. And since she already knew about ... about being taken, and pregnant ... she wanted to know if we'd found her. And--why us. Why you. [he's starting to struggle with keeping his emotions in check again] All I know is what you said, there--that it was because of the--the Doctor. [a shadow passes over his face before he blinks slowly] And I--I told her that I held you, and that ...

[he was going to say 'that you were beautiful' but that's still too awkward for him to say in front of her. He sighs]

But I didn't tell her how ... how we found out that--um, that--she'd switched you--and I didn't tell her that you're ... you.

[hullo-sweetie.livejournal.com]

[She rests her hand on his shoulder. Oh Rory, she's got Amy's same weakness when it comes to you. Her heart aches when Rory is upset]

Now maybe you have an inkling of the burdens I carry. And that is just one secret, Rory.

[She feels she should clear a few things up]

They wanted me because....because of my DNA. I'm human, yes, but I carry Time Lord genes as well. Genetically, I'm the missing link between humans and full time lords. Naturally...they thought the only way to take down a Time Lord was with another Time Lord.

[nurse-boy.livejournal.com]

[Rory sort of does resemble a kicked puppy when upset ...]

I sort of already figured you did. Because of what you told me in Florida.

[but when she says she has Time Lord DNA he flinches and pulls away from her as confusion, shock, horror, and betrayal all flash across his face in an instant. He's just gone to the most horrible conclusion]

Time Lord DNA? But--that's not--

[hullo-sweetie.livejournal.com]

Rory, what did you think they wanted me for? Conceived mid-flight through the time vortex. My mother grew up with time and universal energy pouring into her head from the crack in her wall and you - how many times did you die and come back? You're practically a walking paradox, Rory.

[She doesn't mean to sound harsh, but these are the cold hard facts]

The Doctor, his people became who they were by contact with the untempered time vortex schism on Gallifrey. You two managed to cook up the closest thing to a Time Lord this universe has seen in a long time.

oh god sorry I fell asleep

[nurse-boy.livejournal.com]

[he still isn't relaxing, because it's still not quite computing yet, because as far as his Earth-based understanding of genetics goes, for someone to have Time Lord DNA, one of the parents must be a Time Lord and, well, surely it's obvious what he's thinking. His and Amy's genes couldn't just mutate into part-another species, time vortex or not. He's terrified he's been lied to after all and that he's been cuckolded. But surely Amy wouldn't have--the Doctor wouldn't have either--but she DID try to snog him the once--and only spent her entire life pining after him--and what is he, Rory, anyway?--]

But--I still don't understand, that ... it just doesn't work that way ... for you to be part Time Lord one of your parents would have to--to be a Time Lord ...

[he looks like he's about to vomit]

*pets*

[hullo-sweetie.livejournal.com]

[His reaction disgusts her and forces her to slap him across the face - she has to defend her mother's honor, after all]

Don't be disgusting. I'm the Doctor's wife. You and Amy are my parents. I know it's hard to believe, but I'm living proof of evolution. You know the Doctor and Amy would never do such a thing.

[nurse-boy.livejournal.com]

[Rory reels back in shock, his hand flying to his cheek, and splutters for a moment before his face flushes in anger]

What the hell was I supposed to think? You say you've got Time Lord genes and we only know one of those, and he just happens to be the man that Amy's wanted her entire life! And don't say Amy would never--she tried it on with him the night before our wedding!

[hullo-sweetie.livejournal.com]

[She's equally as angry and disappointed in him]

Maybe Amy would, but you know the Doctor wouldn't. He's so terribly old fashioned and has way too many morals to allow such a thing.

[nurse-boy.livejournal.com]

[he knows the Doctor would never. But Amy ... His voice takes on a hint of sad, bitterly amused resignation]

You don't know her like I do. Amy can be--really persuasive.

[more like steamroll everything in her path to get her way. Some of the anger drains out of him and he slumps, dropping his head into his hand]

She's never said it ... but if she knew it wouldn't kill me, she'd be in his bed in a heartbeat, no matter what he might say. I know she would.

[hullo-sweetie.livejournal.com]

No she wouldn't. Not really. I mean, the Doctor...he's impressive, but you're Rory. The Last centurion. You waited two thousand years for her - she'd never betray you like that.

[She's trying to build him back up]

You always underestimate yourself. You need to have more faith in yourself before you go accusing Amy of what she would or wouldn't do.

[nurse-boy.livejournal.com]

[he huffs self-deprecatingly when River mentions the Centurion and his wait, and shakes his head]

No, she would. Like I said, she's never directly asked, but she ... dropped hints that she wanted to. After we were married. [sighs] Like--like she wanted my permission.

[hullo-sweetie.livejournal.com]

[Well, that's going to mentally scar her. Thanks mom and dad]

But she hasn't. Wanting and doing are two different things. Listen, I'm your daughter. How else would I have your nose?

[nurse-boy.livejournal.com]

[just as much as realizing your own daughter called herself a screamer right in front of you? Yep. And oh, he knows, but the fact that Amy even wants to in the first place eats him up inside. River's the first person he's ever even mentioned this fear to, however inappropriate it was to do so. He glances up at her from behind his hand, his mouth crooking slightly]

We've both got tough luck?

[bad attempt at joke is bad]

[hullo-sweetie.livejournal.com]

[Yes, but he hadn't known she was his daughter at the time]

Or we've both got the same bad nose gene.

[nurse-boy.livejournal.com]

[he's still scarred for life in retrospect. :D His expression turns a bit reflective]

I don't see why everyone makes such a fuss over it ... it's not that bad. I mean--so okay, yes, it bad when I was a kid but I grew into it--[waves his hand at her]--and looks like you did too. [with a bit of familial defensiveness] It's a good nose.

[hullo-sweetie.livejournal.com]

[Smiling, she waves off his defensiveness]

I suppose you have a point there.

[nurse-boy.livejournal.com]

[he smiles back, briefly, before his face turns pensive yet again. This has been one heck of an emotional rollercoaster conversation]

It's going to be hard keeping this from Amy.

[hullo-sweetie.livejournal.com]

Do you really want her to suffer like you have? If not, then try and keep it from her as long as you can.

[nurse-boy.livejournal.com]

[his eyebrows knit severely together]

Of course I don't! How could you even suggest that?

[hullo-sweetie.livejournal.com]

I know you don't, but I have to keep everything in perspective.