To Be Forgotten

Chapter 2 - Vampires of Venice

The Vampires Of Venice, part 2 -

Rory and Amy received clothes from Guido so they'd look era-appropriate, leaving the man in Rory's stag-shirt. Then they led them to the Calvierri residence and waited outside for Rory. He looked terribly scared when they got onto a gondola with Guido. Rory and the Doctor were sitting in the back of it and the Oracle cross-legged in front of them, leaning against the Doctor.

"She'll be fine", the Doctor told Rory.

"You can promise me that, can you?", Rory said with a sense of anger in his voice.

The Oracle noticed his distress and smiled back at him sympathetically, squeezing his arm slightly. Rory got the tiniest bit less tense at the contact and a few moments later Guido already announced, "We're here."

He got out first and held on to the gondola so the others could get out safely. Rory helped the Oracle up and out of the tilting boat as the Doctor already walked ahead towards a gate, torch in hand. Guido stayed behind on the gondola while the other two followed the Doctor.

"Right. Okay", the Doctor started his plan, "I'll go first. If anything happens to me, go back."

"What happened between you and Amy?", Rory interrupted him, "You said she kissed you."

"Now?", the Doctor stopped to look at Rory, "You want to do this now?"

"I have a right to know", Rory whisper-yelled at him, "I'm getting married in four hundred and thirty years."

The Oracle snorted, earning her a glare from the Doctor, then they just kept going down the tunnel. On the walk the Doctor decided to quickly elaborate his most recent adventure with Amy, sparing all the details, basically just saying that Amy had nearly died.

"She was frightened", he concluded, "I was frightened. But we survived, you know, and the relief of it, and so she kissed me."

"And you kissed her back", Rory said.

"Whoa, did you kiss her back?", the Oracle realised the weight of the question.

"No. I kissed her mouth", the Doctor shrugged, making his wife push against the back of his head in annoyance.

"Funny", Rory commented her thoughts sarcastically.

"Rory", the Doctor stopped dead in his tracks, the both men looking at each other in the narrow tunnel, the Oracle behind them, "Rory, she kissed me because I was there. It would have been you. It should have been you."

"Yeah, it should have been me."

"Exactly", the Doctor hit Rory's chest with the back of his hand and kept walking, "That's why I brought you here."

A gust of wind blew out his torch, prompting the Oracle to reach out and grab the first hand she found, which turned out to be Rory's but she didn't know that, because Rory just squeezed it back as they were all scared now.

"Can we go and see the vampires now, please?", the Doctor whispered.

"Well, keep going then", the Oracle whispered back and reached out her free hand to feel for his tweed jacket and push him along.

She held on to the fabric as they walked, thereby having noticed that she was in fact holding Rory's hand but making no move to change it, until they reached the mentioned trap door. Moonlight fell through the slit between the double doors, alighting a ladder. The Oracle let go of the men so they could go up.

"Push. Come on", the Doctor told Rory as they opened the heavy door, then he climbed out first, "There we are. Amy. Where's Amy? Amy?"

"I can't see a thing", Rory commented and got out a small torch from his pocket, "Just as well I brought this then."