To Be a Time Lord

Chapter 22 - The Girl Who Waited

The Girl Who Waited, part 2 -

She led the way out into a garden filled with perfectly cut landscaping and different sorts of stone decorations. As they walked she explained a little bit.

"When I first came here, I had to trick the Interface into giving me the information, but I've reprogrammed it now. It'll tell me anything except how to escape."

"You hacked it? That's genius", Rory commented and Amy's facade almost crumbled again but it quickly reappeared when the Doctor spoke again.

"Sorry to interrupt that beautiful moment 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?"

"The regulator valve is held within", it replied showing them a diagram of the location.

"Oh, very, very", he turned around, "Ah."

"Interface, we'll need to run through some technical specifications", the Oracle called out, focusing all her attention on the task at hand and trying to forget about the misery they were in.

"Rory, give us to Amy a minute", the Doctor said.

He took off the spectacles and held them up to her face, "Here you go."

She looked at him with disdain causing him to lower his hands so she could take them from him. She frowned at them shortly before putting them on hesitantly, "They look ridiculous."

"That's what I told him. Still, anything beats a fez, eh?" They laughed at his comment together briefly. Then she stopped and he frowned, "What is it?"

"I think that's the first time I've laughed in thirty six years."

They looked at each other with an overwhelming amount of re-blooming love and the Doctor smiled at the screen. Rory stepped back, "I'll just, er, leave you three geniuses alone. I'll be back in a minute."

He walked away and Amy turned around to talk to the Doctor. He spoke up calmly, "There's still time, Amy. There's still time to fix everything."

Amy gulped with watery eyes over the moment she'd just shared with her husband but before she could reply she heard, "Do not be alarmed. This is a kindness", and ran to help him. She found him, already lying on his back with a handbot over him, its face open to present a syringe. She chopped its head off with her sword.

"Oh", Rory looked up, slightly out of it.

"Rory?", she tried to keep him conscious.

"Glasses", he mumbled.

"You stupid-"

"Oh. You saved me", he sat up again.

"Don't get used to it", she still observed the handbot for a moment to make sure it wouldn't reactivate.

"Have you been crying?", he looked at her, "A little bit?"

"Shut up, Rory."

"You have, haven't you?"

"Woman with a sword. Don't push it."

The Oracle breathed out a laugh, "Love a sword, I prefer a cutlass, but katana's just as great. I mean, honestly, what's the difference?"

The Doctor chuckled as well, "Okay, so, here's the plan. Time is always a bit wobbly-wobbly, but in Twostreams it's extra wobbly."

Amy put the glasses back on Rory's face, seemingly tired of hearing the Doctor's voice. Noticing the frown on her face the Oracle picked the explanation up, "We've worked out how to hijack the Temporal Engines and use them to fold two points of Mum's timeline together. We're bringing her out of the then and into the now."