Yowzah Oneshot Collection (1)

86(G)

Rory sat in the office of his flat attempting to read the latest medical journal he'd received at the hospital, but couldn't gather the motivation to learn about the latest technique in cardiothoracic surgery. "Not my specialty," he muttered as he laid the material on his desk. His eyes drifted to a picture taken three Christmases ago. It was the year the Doctor had arrived on his and Amy's doorstep to announce he wasn't dead. Something the two of them had known for months thanks to their daughter ratting out her husband.

The picture in question contained the Doctor, Amy, Rory, and their two daughters—River and Moira. The younger girl had been two at the time. Her sixth birthday was two months ago. Realizing it had been that long since everyone was together set Rory's nerves slightly on edge. His family hadn't heard from the Doctor in that time, but that wasn't entirely worrisome. Despite being a so-called Lord of Time, he usually managed it poorly. You could go weeks on end without hearing from him, then within two days time he would show up on your doorstep wanting to watch a football game, leave, return a few hours later in your timestream (months later in his) with River in tow offering to babysit Moira, and call you three times with at least one instance occurring while another version of himself was in the flat.

No, it wasn't the Doctor's absence that piqued Rory's interest, it was River's. His elder daughter usually maintained steady contact with her parents. She especially kept up on events regarding her younger sister, even if Moira only knew her as Aunt River (usually with Uncle Doctor by her side) so as not to confuse things greatly.

Whether by phone or visit, River usually checked in with her family every week or two. Rory chalked her silence up to the fact that he'd been pulling a lot of double shifts at the hospital lately, but the more he thought about it, he hadn't heard Amy relay any stories about her recently either. Wanting to put his mind at ease, he reached for the phone on his desk. When the Doctor had given Rory and Amy this home, he'd worked his magic on their phones so that they always had a direct line to Stormcage and the TARDIS.

Punching the assigned speed dial setting for Stormcage, Rory heard sirens wailing in the background as soon as the guard on duty picked up the line. He shook his head as the guard quickly and shakily ran through the standard greeting.

"Uh, hi. I was looking for River Song, but I'm guessing by the chaos in the background that she's escaped. Again."

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. She left a note saying that she was going to the 42nd century and that she'd be back for tea later today if you want to try and call back later." The guard answered.

"I'll do that, thanks." Rory replied. All the guards at the facility were used to both the Ponds calling and River escaping on a regular basis, so protocol was usually bent when it came to passing along information about escaped prisoners, or at least the one in particular.

Hanging up and immediately placing the handset back against his ear, Rory punched in the line for the TARDIS. An unfamiliar voice answered.

"Oi! Who is this and what do you want?" she asked.

"Umm, sorry I was trying to reach the Doctor."

"Busy at the moment. Can I take a message?"

Rory hesitated. Timestreams made his head ache and he didn't know if he was talking to a companion from the past, present or future.

He'd apparently waited too long. "Hello? You there?" the mystery woman asked, her voice now taking on an annoyed tone.

"Yes, sorry. I was looking for River Song. Has she been around lately?"

"Oh," the woman answered, her voice growing softer and sympathetic, instinctively setting Rory on edge. "I'm so sorry. She's dead."

Rory felt like the ground had been rent from under him. He grabbed on to his desk for dear life, even though physically he was safe in his chair. No. This can't be happening. She's supposed to outlive me. By centuries. No no no.