bringing up baby

[nurse_boy]

Who: Rory Williams, Amy Pond-Williams, River Song (godmode)
What: Dealing with suddenly having a baby thrust upon them
When: Directly after the Doctor leaves baby!River with them
Where: Room 212
Rating: PG-13

Comments

[too_fairytale]

Amy isn't numb so much as she is... angry. Rudderless and angry. And she wants to whack the Doctor upside the head for upsetting Rory. (It's not that she isn't upset, but--Rory's actually seen and held their daughter, and had her taken away from him. Of course it will hurt worse for him.)

"Why would he do this?" she demands of the closed door. "Oh--right--alien. He doesn't get it, does he?"

She looks at Rory, holding River, and her heart clenches. It somehow looks so very right to see him holding an infant--he looks so natural at it. A little tentatively, she put a hand on his arm.

[nurse_boy]

Rory doesn't reply, or even acknowledge Amy's hand on his arm. He just keeps looking down at the baby in his arms--River, River, not Melody--and watching her cry and wave her fists. Her face is getting redder and angrier; she's not being fed. Suddenly Rory flinches and startles like he's coming out of a deep reverie, looking up and around until his eyes fall on Amy.

"Right," he says thickly, swallowing. "Right. She's, um, she's hungry--we should--"

He starts casting about, as if a warm bottle and a burping cloth will magically make themselves known without having to ask the castle. River's cries are flustering him.

[too_fairytale]

Oh god, he almost looks shellshocked. She is really going to whack the Doctor for this after it's over. Taking a deep breath, Amy makes an attempt of seizing some control of the situation by saying, "Um, castle? Could we get some--baby things? A bottle, to start with?"

Of course, it pops into existence in mid-air and falls to the floor before she can catch it. She leans over and swipes it up, then gives Rory and River another sort of helpless glance.

"I'll just--yeah--"

Warming up milk, she can do. Holding a baby, not so sure.

[nurse_boy]

Rory manages to quietly ask the castle for a burping cloth, which he awkwardly settles on his shoulder with one hand. He hasn't the first clue on how to feed a baby, but it can't be that hard--just hold it up to the baby's mout and let it go to town, he supposes. He'd been by the nursery at the hospital enough times to at least see the other nurses feeding the babies there, and--well--he'll just have to go on a wing and a prayer, because Amy doesn't look to be in any hurry to take River away from him.

Which leaves him pacing in a small circle, unconsciously rocking her a little in his arms, trying to get her to settle down a bit while Amy gets the bottle ready. He can't take his eyes off River's tiny features, so freshly imprinted in his mind from Demon's Run, and how he thought he'd never see them again. There's a boulder lodged in his throat and his eyes are starting to sting again, but he barely notices.