The Visitor

vii. The Doctor in Utah

When the plane landed, Rory, Annie, and Amy had no luggage except two backpacks between them. Annie didn't question the lack of luggage until the bus ride to the middle of nowhere, "Where are we going?"

Amy, who was suddenly a little agitated, said, "No idea. Just following the coordinates."

Annie was satisfied with that answer.

As Annie stepped off the yellow school bus that had dropped them off to the middle of nowhere, Utah, she felt a burst of excitement.

"Howdy," said a voice from behind them. It was the Doctor- and he was wearing a stetson.

There was a pause. 

"Amy, Rory!" The Doctor exclaimed, and Annie was suddenly very shy. Amy hugged him, but Annie hid slightly behind her brother.

"I wear a stetson now, stetsons are cool," The Doctor was telling them, when he finally noticed her.

"Oh, Annie Williams!" He said as there was a gunshot- River Song had appeared, and shot the hat off his head.

"Hello, sweetie," River said, lowering her weapon. Annie wasn't startled, however much the others were.

"Right, let's go," The Doctor clapped his hands together, in the way he always did (but Annie could see that he was very, very sad).

"Where're we going?" asked Rory as they climbed into the red car that the Doctor had brought, "And why are we in Utah?"

"That's something I've been wondering as well," Amy added.

The diner that they had met up at in the episode was a lone, smaller building. Rory ordered drinks for them all, and Annie waited with Amy as the Doctor and River slid into a booth to figure out where they were.

"Have we done Easter Island yet?" River flipped through her TARDIS blue journal as the Doctor exclaimed, "Ooh, yes!"

"They worshiped you there," said River.

"Jim the fish?"

"Oh, Jim the fish, how is he?" She exclaimed as Rory returned with glass bottles of soda for them all.

Annie wrinkled her nose at her brother's drink. She never really liked fizzy things.

"I've got water for you, Ans," Rory rolled his eyes, and Annie blushed as the Doctor looked at her in disbelief.

"Fizz? What's wrong with fizz?" He said to her, twirling his straw, "I like fizz."

"It burns my throat," Annie said, sipping her water, "And the flavors are awful."

The Doctor tilted his head in thought, "You should see the ones they have on Lithonius, they have these great-"

"Okay, Doctor," Amy interrupted, "Why are we here?"

"A picnic," The Doctor said, now completely distracted, "And then a trip."

"Where?"

Giving them the look that Annie loved most of all- just before the introduction, he said, "Space. 1969."

When I was a little girl, I had an imaginary friend. And when I grew up, he came back. He's called the Doctor, he comes from somewhere else...

Annie's rattling of Amy's words from every episode in season six drew her away from the fact that she was about to watch the Doctor die.

He's got a box called the TARDIS that's bigger on the inside and can travel anywhere in time and space...

The impromptu picnic was lovely, for Annie was quite hungry from the plane. She kept her eyes down from the hill above, even when Amy said, "Who's that?"

Annie wasn't so sure if she'd remember the Silence- if she looked directly at them, at least. For some reason, she knew she could describe them perfectly, but there was an irrational fear that she would forget all she knew upon looking at their frightening, grotesque faces.

"Whatever happens now, you do not interfere," The Doctor was telling them now- the Impossible Astronaut had appeared at Lake Silencio.

Annie froze, but there was nothing she could do. What could she, and how could she explain? She watched, heartbroken, as the Doctor strode toward the shore- and closed her eyes.

I ran away with him, and we've been running ever since..