Fic: His Pile of Good Things
Title: His Pile of Good Things
Author: itmustbetuesday
Rating: G
Warnings: Spoilers for series 6, but nothing that hasn't already aired
Words: 1,154
Characters: Eleven, Amy, Rory (mentioned briefly)
Author's Note: Haven't written a fanfic in years, and I really don't know what possessed me to write this one. It's just a little ficlet, a small moment where I sort of get my bearings I suppose.
“Thanks! Couldn’t have done it without you! We’ll be sure to pop by soon for a visit! Thanks! Ta-ta! Cheerio!”
As soon as the TARDIS doors closed, the Doctor’s cheery smile melted into a scowl.
“Blimey! They don’t let you go easily, do they?”
Amy merely chuckled as he bounced past her on his way to the console, where he started pulling levers and spinning dials and typing things in. She’d watched him do it dozens of times, mounting on hundreds, but it she still hadn’t figured it all out.
“You check on Rory?”
“Hmm?”
The Doctor didn’t look up from his scanner as he rephrased the question for his inattentive companion. “Your husband. They patched him up pretty good, but still - nearly losing an arm can take a lot out of a person. Namely their arm…”
Amy waved a dismissive hand as she walked across the bridge towards the console, fiddling with a switch that wouldn’t move and had even the Doctor puzzled as to what its purpose was. “He’s sleeping it off. So, where’re we headed now?”
“Cardiff.”
“Cardiff?” Amy repeated with a sour face.
“Yes,” the Doctor replied with a knowing tone, glancing at her for a moment before returning his eyes to the scanner. “The TARDIS needs an energy boost now and again, and after our last trip I’d say she’s quite overdue one. Aren’t you, old girl?” he asked tenderly, placing a hand on the console, and if Amy were completely mad, she would have sworn the TARDIS made a faint humming sound in response. “There’s a rift in the time vortex there that’s shut - for the moment - but all this energy seeps out from it. We park the TARDIS there for a few hours, let her soak all that energy up and then-” He slapped the palms of his hands together. “Off we go towards another adventure.”
Amy slowly walked around the console towards him, noticing that it was taking them longer to land than usual, but attributed it to the TARDIS being low on energy.
“We were lucky to survive the last one,” she said conversationally, but a dark shadow fell across the Doctor’s face in response. “But we’re always lucky, yeah?”
“Not always,” the Doctor replied, his voice lower than usual.
Amy frowned, not liking this serious turn he was taking, but something in the air between them thickened and she knew what was coming next.
“How long are you going to stay with me, Amelia?”
He’d asked her that before - before Rory, before the Pandorica and River and the Silence and all of those things in between. Amy placed her hands on the console and leaned forward, shrugging as she tried to shake off that feeling she got whenever she thought about her days in the TARDIS coming to an end. “I dunno,” she replied with an uncomfortable laugh. “Forever?”
She wasn’t looking at him, so Amy was surprised when his hand brushed her hair back and she turned to catch him watching her fondly, but sadly. “Oh, Amy. You don’t have forever.”
“Whatever happens you must not interfere.”
“Doctor!”
“Amy!”
“No!”
She blinked a few times, staving off the memory of his death, of his future. “Neither do you.”
Inexplicably, he smiled at her then, like she was a student who’d gotten the right answer when no one else in the class could. With a sigh, he folded his arms across his chest and turned so that he was leaning against the console next to her. “You and Rory can’t stick around for the rest of your lives, Amy. What about your life together?”
She shrugged defensively. “We have a life together. Here, in the TARDIS.”
“You’re gonna get older. You’ll want a house and kids - everybody always wants a house and kids.”
Amy tried to ignore the fact that he looked down at her belly when he mentioned kids, but she couldn’t help but frown at him. “I don’t,” she replied, not really meaning it.
“But Rory does.”
She made a little frustrated sound. “Look, why are we talking about this? Do you want me to leave, Doctor? Is that where this is going?”
“No,” he replied calmly. “But I’m beginning to fear that day is coming sooner than I’d expected.”
Amy leveled him with an earnest stare and placed her hand on his cheek. “I’m not going anywhere,” she promised. He was starting to worry her with this talk, and it was times like these that she remembered he was an old man in a young man’s body. Sometimes she wondered if that was better or worse than a space slug in a human suit.
“That’s what they all say,” he told her simply, with no sad smile or trace of any forced emotion at all.
She didn’t know what it was like to be him, this old, old man from a different planet who’s life never stopped and who had to watch the people he loved wither and die over and over again. She was too young to really understand him, but save for other alien life forms, Amy feared that everyone was too young to understand him. That didn’t mean she never tried, nor that she never got frustrated when he shut her out.
The Doctor went back to fiddling with some knobs on the console, even though Amy was pretty sure the TARDIS was flying well on her own now. It was then that she remembered something he’d said to her once, and even though she didn’t want to encourage this brooding, sullen side of her Doctor, she walked up behind him and threw her arms around his waist, burying her cheek against his shoulder. He froze for a moment, as if he wasn’t comfortable with her touching him, but it wasn’t long before she felt him sink into her touch.
“The bad things don’t spoil the good, isn’t that what you said?” A puff of air in the form of a weak laugh was his only response, and Amy smiled against his shoulder. “So just pile me on there, ‘kay?”
He chuckled lightly, and they stood there for a long moment before the something on the scanner beeped and the Doctor looked up at it, Amy pulling back to see what it was.
“Aha! Here we are. Cardiff, 2011. Lovely spring morning. This should do quite nicely.”
The TARDIS gave a bit of a lurch as the Doctor readied to land her and Amy grabbed onto the steadiest part of the console she could easily grab, smiling back at the Doctor when he shot a mad grin at her. Just like that, his dark moment had passed and he was back to the man she knew better - her zany and energetic Doctor.
They may not have forever, and Amy may never fully understand him, but he was wrong about one thing - she wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Author: itmustbetuesday
Rating: G
Warnings: Spoilers for series 6, but nothing that hasn't already aired
Words: 1,154
Characters: Eleven, Amy, Rory (mentioned briefly)
Author's Note: Haven't written a fanfic in years, and I really don't know what possessed me to write this one. It's just a little ficlet, a small moment where I sort of get my bearings I suppose.
“Thanks! Couldn’t have done it without you! We’ll be sure to pop by soon for a visit! Thanks! Ta-ta! Cheerio!”
As soon as the TARDIS doors closed, the Doctor’s cheery smile melted into a scowl.
“Blimey! They don’t let you go easily, do they?”
Amy merely chuckled as he bounced past her on his way to the console, where he started pulling levers and spinning dials and typing things in. She’d watched him do it dozens of times, mounting on hundreds, but it she still hadn’t figured it all out.
“You check on Rory?”
“Hmm?”
The Doctor didn’t look up from his scanner as he rephrased the question for his inattentive companion. “Your husband. They patched him up pretty good, but still - nearly losing an arm can take a lot out of a person. Namely their arm…”
Amy waved a dismissive hand as she walked across the bridge towards the console, fiddling with a switch that wouldn’t move and had even the Doctor puzzled as to what its purpose was. “He’s sleeping it off. So, where’re we headed now?”
“Cardiff.”
“Cardiff?” Amy repeated with a sour face.
“Yes,” the Doctor replied with a knowing tone, glancing at her for a moment before returning his eyes to the scanner. “The TARDIS needs an energy boost now and again, and after our last trip I’d say she’s quite overdue one. Aren’t you, old girl?” he asked tenderly, placing a hand on the console, and if Amy were completely mad, she would have sworn the TARDIS made a faint humming sound in response. “There’s a rift in the time vortex there that’s shut - for the moment - but all this energy seeps out from it. We park the TARDIS there for a few hours, let her soak all that energy up and then-” He slapped the palms of his hands together. “Off we go towards another adventure.”
Amy slowly walked around the console towards him, noticing that it was taking them longer to land than usual, but attributed it to the TARDIS being low on energy.
“We were lucky to survive the last one,” she said conversationally, but a dark shadow fell across the Doctor’s face in response. “But we’re always lucky, yeah?”
“Not always,” the Doctor replied, his voice lower than usual.
Amy frowned, not liking this serious turn he was taking, but something in the air between them thickened and she knew what was coming next.
“How long are you going to stay with me, Amelia?”
He’d asked her that before - before Rory, before the Pandorica and River and the Silence and all of those things in between. Amy placed her hands on the console and leaned forward, shrugging as she tried to shake off that feeling she got whenever she thought about her days in the TARDIS coming to an end. “I dunno,” she replied with an uncomfortable laugh. “Forever?”
She wasn’t looking at him, so Amy was surprised when his hand brushed her hair back and she turned to catch him watching her fondly, but sadly. “Oh, Amy. You don’t have forever.”
“Whatever happens you must not interfere.”
“Doctor!”
“Amy!”
“No!”
She blinked a few times, staving off the memory of his death, of his future. “Neither do you.”
Inexplicably, he smiled at her then, like she was a student who’d gotten the right answer when no one else in the class could. With a sigh, he folded his arms across his chest and turned so that he was leaning against the console next to her. “You and Rory can’t stick around for the rest of your lives, Amy. What about your life together?”
She shrugged defensively. “We have a life together. Here, in the TARDIS.”
“You’re gonna get older. You’ll want a house and kids - everybody always wants a house and kids.”
Amy tried to ignore the fact that he looked down at her belly when he mentioned kids, but she couldn’t help but frown at him. “I don’t,” she replied, not really meaning it.
“But Rory does.”
She made a little frustrated sound. “Look, why are we talking about this? Do you want me to leave, Doctor? Is that where this is going?”
“No,” he replied calmly. “But I’m beginning to fear that day is coming sooner than I’d expected.”
Amy leveled him with an earnest stare and placed her hand on his cheek. “I’m not going anywhere,” she promised. He was starting to worry her with this talk, and it was times like these that she remembered he was an old man in a young man’s body. Sometimes she wondered if that was better or worse than a space slug in a human suit.
“That’s what they all say,” he told her simply, with no sad smile or trace of any forced emotion at all.
She didn’t know what it was like to be him, this old, old man from a different planet who’s life never stopped and who had to watch the people he loved wither and die over and over again. She was too young to really understand him, but save for other alien life forms, Amy feared that everyone was too young to understand him. That didn’t mean she never tried, nor that she never got frustrated when he shut her out.
The Doctor went back to fiddling with some knobs on the console, even though Amy was pretty sure the TARDIS was flying well on her own now. It was then that she remembered something he’d said to her once, and even though she didn’t want to encourage this brooding, sullen side of her Doctor, she walked up behind him and threw her arms around his waist, burying her cheek against his shoulder. He froze for a moment, as if he wasn’t comfortable with her touching him, but it wasn’t long before she felt him sink into her touch.
“The bad things don’t spoil the good, isn’t that what you said?” A puff of air in the form of a weak laugh was his only response, and Amy smiled against his shoulder. “So just pile me on there, ‘kay?”
He chuckled lightly, and they stood there for a long moment before the something on the scanner beeped and the Doctor looked up at it, Amy pulling back to see what it was.
“Aha! Here we are. Cardiff, 2011. Lovely spring morning. This should do quite nicely.”
The TARDIS gave a bit of a lurch as the Doctor readied to land her and Amy grabbed onto the steadiest part of the console she could easily grab, smiling back at the Doctor when he shot a mad grin at her. Just like that, his dark moment had passed and he was back to the man she knew better - her zany and energetic Doctor.
They may not have forever, and Amy may never fully understand him, but he was wrong about one thing - she wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.