Yowzah Oneshot Collection (1)

69(G)

it gets stuck in your head, won’t come out of your mouth

It was the most difficult thing to do – waiting. Just waiting and waiting while he fine-tuned and assembled the plan. He knew he had to send a message – but what? They needed something they could use, and the only place they could get it from required Canton to stay with the injured Silent, and required them to stay in the same time stream in order to receive the incoming message.

The waiting was made all the more difficult by seeing Rory, wandering aimlessly around the TARDIS, with Amy’s transmitter clutched in his hand as he listened to her cries for help. It was eerie, and he knew that River tried to convince Rory several times to just stop listening – it wouldn’t do anything but drive Rory mad – but Rory refused, became angry at her insistence and snapped at her that she couldn’t possibly ask him to do that.

‘What if it were him?!’

River backed off then, and the Doctor had heard the words from the control room even though they were both down the hall from him. Her immediate withdrawal drove home once again the irrefutable fact of River Song’s feelings for him. And he didn’t quite know what to do about that. So he shifted around the console and played with buttons that didn’t do anything.

She walked back into the control room with a soft sigh. “Maybe you should try.” Her suggestion was soft and the Doctor shook his head, adamantly.

“I- I can’t ask him to stop, River. I can’t. He wouldn’t listen to me anyway – especially not to me.” She moved up the stairs until she was leaning against the console by his side, her gaze sceptical.

“Don’t ask him to stop listening – but just – he needs to talk to somebody. He needs to talk to you.” She pointed this out calmly and he sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair as he glanced at her, guilt stamped all across his face.

“I don’t know what I’d say.” He was asking her for advice and she smiled slightly, placing a hand on his forearm and squeezing just a bit. He blinked down at her hand, studying it intently. They were quite small actually – especially compared to his. But her hands were strong. Small, but so strong.

“Maybe you should just listen.”  She turned to the console and ran her fingers over switches and gears before reaching up and pulling the screen around to where she could see it. He watched her for a moment – opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it, instead shoving his hands in his pockets as he wandered down the hall she had just emerged from.

He found Rory in the library, transmitter still in hand as he listened to the sound of Amy’s breathing. There were no cries at the moment – and the Doctor was more than thankful for it.  “Rory?”

Rory sat up quickly, wiping at his eyes unobtrusively and the Doctor hung back for a moment, in a rare display of understanding. “Yeah?” Rory’s voice was thick with strain and he refused to look at the Doctor as he moved further in to the room, choosing a chair across from Rory’s and settling in to it. “You’re not going to start in about me not listening are you?”

“Absolutely not.”

Rory sighed and his hand curled around the glowing transmitter, muffling the sounds of Amy’s even breaths. “Good. River is just – ”

“She means well.” The Doctor interrupted in a soft voice and Rory huffed, his shoulders rising and drawing in.

“That’s rich, coming from you Doctor. I mean pardon me, but one moment you’re declaring her completely untrustworthy and the next you’re defending her intentions?” Rory’s hand tightened until it was a fist and he shook his head. “Sorry – I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to say that. I just – I don’t know what’s-”