jesterladyfic | DW Oneshot: Redeem Those Hours

Redeem Those Hours
By Jesterlady
Rating: PG
Pairing: Rory/Amy
Summary: Rory and Amy have an idea. The Doctor reads something else on that last page
Disclaimers: I don't own DW. Massive spoilers for 7X05. The title is by Thomas Heywood.

Redeem Those Hours

Rory gasped and put his hands on his legs, trying to get his bearings. When he straightened up he could see a vastly different New York skyline stretched ahead of him and a much smaller graveyard.

"Not again," he said, pushing down the feelings of panic. "Where am I? When am I?"

He glanced down at his watch before the idiocy of such a gesture dawned on him. He was just starting to realize that there would be no rescue from the Doctor this time when the full realization of no Amy ever again made him want to sink down and bury himself in one of the graves surrounding him.

He closed his eyes in weariness and when he opened them again Amy was standing in front of him.

"You- but, you-" he said and stopped.

"As if you have a monopoly on self-sacrificial gestures," she said, trying to smile, but he could see the tears falling down her face.

He reached for her, clutching her to him, one hand on the back of her head, one on her back.

"Thank you," he whispered into her hair.

"Didn't you tell me once it was you and me, always?" she said, her voice cracking.

"And I'm always right," he said, pulling back and tucking the hair out of her face.

She laughed and kissed him and he kissed her back.

"I had to come," she said softly against his lips.

"So, this is it?" he said, resting his forehead against hers.

"Guess so. Think we can make a go of it?"

"Any time and any place," he said, "you and I always work."

She swatted his shoulder and leaned harder against him.

"Is he okay?" Rory asked, his own worry and grief pressing in against his lungs now that the initial joy of having Amy back was gone.

"No," Amy said. "I-I ruined him."

"No," Rory said, rubbing his hand up and down her back, "no, River will look after him."

"She's a good girl," Amy said, new tears falling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry you didn't get to say goodbye."

"I am too," Rory said, feeling like he'd lost his little Melody all over again.

Not to mention his best friend. He pushed thoughts of the Doctor away and concentrated on Amy.

"But they have each other and we have each other," Amy said, standing taller.

"And we have all of history to live out in," Rory said. "That's exciting. I can remember living in the 40s. It wasn't so bad."

"That's it, Rory," Amy said, smacking him again which he really wished she wouldn't do. "The 40s."

"What about- oh. Oh." A light seemed to turn on in Rory's brain and he started thinking. "The Doctor said he couldn't ever bring the Tardis back to that specific point because the timelines were too scrambled, but we can wait a few years, we've waited longer than that."

"Yes, yes!" Amy shouted, laughter spilling out of her and she kissed him again. "Rory, you're a genius!"

"You thought of it first," he felt obliged to point out.

"But I didn't know how. Now how, how do we get him to come and get us?"

Rory thought about it for a minute.

"Well, we've got all the time in the world," he said. "We'll think of something. I mean, we have before."

"Crop circles and noir novels," Amy said, laughing.

"Noir novels?"

"Yes, River wrote the book the Doctor was reading which let us know where to go and come and get you."

"When was that book published, Amy?" Rory said, grasping her with a sudden urgency.

"The 40s, I think- oh. Oh, Rory, that's brilliant."

"Very brilliant. We just need to find when and where River published it."

"Oh, we can do that, husband! Come on!"

Grasping his hand, Amy led him down the hill into New York.

***

The Doctor raced down the pavement as if the page would dissipate if he didn't get there within the next few seconds.

He didn't know what he was looking for, but he needed something, anything to assure him they were okay. That his best friends had somehow made it and had each other. That he hadn't destroyed Amelia Pond and Rory Williams.

When he finally grasped it in his hands, he sank down and read.

Oi, Raggedy Man, I bet you're really full on into Timelord brooding about now. Well, quit and stop getting your bowtie wet. We're okay, Rory and I, and it's time for you to take some advice from two people who aren't mired down in twelve hundred years of fixed time nonsense.

Did you know I married a genius and so did Rory? We had quite a brilliant thought after the panic dissipated. If we understand it correctly, and we know we do, New York and 1938 are the bad temporal points you can't bring the Tardis to without blowing them up, yeah?

Well, you great numpty, we're living in New Jersey and it's 1940. So, come get us already before Rory makes too many medical advancements and I take women's lib into my own hands.

In case you've started blathering on about reading things ahead of time making them true, we've commissioned our own gravestone and fixed it all nice and neat in the graveyard so the timelines are okay. It's not like we dug up the graves or anything and knew we were down there.

Don't make us wait too long, Doctor.

The Doctor stared at the letters as they blurred before him. Then he was up and running again, back to the Tardis.

***

A gasping, wheezing sound floated through the house.

"Ponds, Ponds!" came a familiar yelling from outside.

Amy turned away from her mirror with a slow grin spreading across her face.

"That's more like it," she said, putting down her bobby pins, a pang of longing for retro hairstyles running through her mind.

She exchanged glances with Rory and they ran for the front door. When they opened it the Doctor was standing outside looking as frantic and happy as they'd ever seen him.

"Ponds!" he yelled at them, shaking his hands madly in the air.

"Oh, it's you then?" Amy said, smiling and reaching to hug him tightly.

He held her and then hugged Rory and then kissed them both, full on the mouth, causing Rory to grimace and Amy to laugh.

"It's good to see you too," Rory said, heaving a long-suffering sigh.

"Are you ready to go? Don't have any lingering things or anything?" the Doctor asked.

"Really not fancying living through World War II again," Rory said.

They grabbed bags, ones they'd had packed for months, ever since the book had been published, and stepped out the door toward the blue box parked on their lawn.

"River will be so jealous. I mean, amazed. And happy," the Doctor said, snapping the doors open with his fingers.

Amy had never been happier to see the inside of the Tardis. It felt welcoming.

"It's good to be home," she said, trailing a hand over the railing. "This is better."

"I'm never letting you out of my sight again," the Doctor scolded them, keeping an arm around Rory as if afraid he would vanish again. "You're the worst companions I ever had."

"I think you mean the best," Amy retorted. "And that's fine with us. We talked about it."

"What?" the Doctor said.

"We just need to pop home first and see my dad," Rory said. "I don't want him to worry."

"I have parents too, you know," Amy said.

"And Amy's parents too," Rory said. "But then we'd like to come back with you, Doctor, if you can bear having to look after us."

"Nothing would make me happier, Mr. Pond," the Doctor said, dashing up to the console and starting to flick switches.

Amy exchanged grins with Rory and they raced up to stand beside the Doctor as he took them away.