Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

A/N: Welcome to the finale of 'The Doctor's Wife AU'. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, thank you for the reviews, follows and favourites, and without further ado, I give you –

The Angel's Take Manhattan – Part Four

Rory came barrelling out of the TARDIS, jerking back at the sight of the Angel. "Whoa! Where did that come from? Where's Melody?" he asked, realising she was nowhere to be seen. "It took her, Rory. It took our baby" Amy told him, and Rory's heart broke. The Time Lords and River also came out. "It's a survivor. Very weak, but keep your eyes on it" the Doctor warned. Amy pointed with a shaking hand towards the gravestone, which she could just see out of the corner of her eye, and explained "She…she looked at that, she said it had our names on…"

The Corsair looked at the gravestone and read the words 'Rory Pond-Williams, Loving Husband and Father, died aged 82, and Amelia Pond-Williams, Loving Wife and Mother, died aged 87'. His hearts broke, realising what that meant. "What are we waiting for?" asked Rory, "let's just get into the TARDIS and go and fetch her"

"We can't, Rory" Flavia tried to tell him, "the timelines"-

"Screw the timelines! It's our baby girl we're talking about. She's lost in a strange city in a strange time, all on her own – we have to get her back" Amy said hotly, rounding on the Time Lady and glaring at her. How dare Flavia even suggest they couldn't get Melody back? The Doctor stepped forward, and put his hands on her shoulders. "The paradox would rip New York apart" he told her, and she shook her head. "No, that's not true. We don't believe you".

"Mother, father, it's true" River said sadly. She could guess what they would do, she'd known ever since Amy said that the gravestone had their names on it. Rory and Amy looked at each other, and came to a silent decision without needing telepathy. As if hypnotized they took hands and walked towards the Angel, much to the Doctor's consternation. "No, wait. What are you doing?"

They ignored him. "Cory, would the Angel send us to where Melody is? To the same time?" asked Amy, and the Corsair replied "Nobody knows, but…yeah, there's a chance you'll be sent to the same time, if not the exact same place". The Doctor stared at him in disbelief. This wasn't the plan, they weren't going to travel with him anymore but he thought he'd at least be able to visit them. "No, no don't do this. Both of you, come back to the TARDIS, now!" he ordered.

"Doctor, shut up" River snapped, before telling her parents, "Don't listen to him, this is your only hope". She came up between them and kissed them both on the cheek. "Behave yourself, won't you?" asked Rory, and she smiled in spite of herself. "Sure, dad".

"Keep an eye on that lot, they need it" Amy added, before addressing the Corsair. "Hey, Cory? I just want you to know, you were the best honorary uncle or brother I've ever had…I'm really gonna miss you"

"Yeah, and I'll miss you Flavia. It was nice to have someone sane to talk to…you're a really good listener"

"No, please…Amy, Rory, don't do this…"

"It'll be fine. We'll be together, a family, like we should be"

"You are creating a fixed point in time; we will never be able to see you again"

"We know, but we have to do this. You…I know you'd do the same for your children" Rory replied, looking over his shoulder, and the Doctor reeled back like he'd been stabbed in the chest. Amy took a deep breath. "Raggedy man…goodbye!" she said, and the Doctor looked her right in the eyes for the briefest of moments before she and Rory vanished out of his life for good. "NO!" he screamed, sinking to his knees, Romana falling to the ground with him as her arms were wrapped around him in comfort.

/

They returned, despondent, to the TARDIS and dematerialised. The Doctor sat on the steps, eyes hollow, Romana still with her arms around him. River helped the Corsair and Flavia fly the TARDIS. "We're sorry about your parents, River" the Corsair said quietly, and she shook her head, insisting "It doesn't matter". The Doctor looked up from where he'd been staring at the floor and protested "Of course it matters".

River turned to him and Romana and replied, "I'm sure they'll be okay. So will I…now, this book I have to write, Melanie Malone. I'm assuming I send it to Amy to be published?" she surmised. The Doctor nodded, and River smiled. "Well, better get started then. I'll tell her to put in an afterword for you" she commented as she walked away up the stairs. The Doctor's eyes widened in realisation… "The last page!"

They returned to the picnic basket, where the Doctor pulled out the page he'd torn from the book, and read it with Amy's reading glasses:

Afterword, by Amelia Pond-Williams – Hello, old friends, and here we are, on the last page. By the time you read these words, Rory and I will be long gone, but Melody moved back to England, I'm sure you'll find her. Just know that we all lived well, and were very happy; and above all, know that we will miss and love you always. Stay with each other, no matter what happens, and find someone to show the wonders of the universe to.

One more thing, Doctor…there's a little girl, waiting in a garden. She's going to wait a long while, so she's going to need a lot of hope. Go to her. Tell her a story. Tell her that if she's patient, the days are coming that she'll never forget. Tell her she'll go to sea and fight pirates. She'll fall in love with a man who'll wait two thousand years to keep her safe. Tell her she'll give hope to the greatest painter who ever lived and save a whale in outer space. Tell her this is the story of Amelia Pond. And this how it ends.

When they'd finished reading it, they looked at one another solemnly. "You should go see her" Romana told the Doctor, "just for a little while". It wasn't exactly against the Laws of Time to visit someone in the past after seeing their future, it was just…stretching them a bit. "We could drop you off, in the past, and go to…to tell Brian the news. He deserves to know what's happened, after all" Flavia said considerately. So they landed the TARDIS, engines on silent, behind young Amelia Pond's house.

The Doctor came around the side of the house to find Amelia sitting on her suitcase, in the early morning light, clearly struggling to stay awake. "You'll catch cold out here, Pond" he said lightly, trying to keep the tightness in his throat away from his voice. She looked around, spotted him, and gasped in delight. "You came back! But why did you take so long? And where's your box?" she asked, running towards and then around him. She looked all around for the blue police box, but saw no sign of it.

"I don't get it. How did you get here? Why are your clothes different?" she asked, supremely puzzled. The Doctor, who had picked up her suitcase, held a hand out to her. "Come along, Pond" he beckoned; Amelia smiled widely and took his hand. Rather than lead her to his hidden time machine, like she expected, he instead led her inside the house and up to her bedroom. "What are we", she paused to yawn, "doing up here?"

"Putting you to bed, you're exhausted" the Doctor explained, and Amelia scowled. "I'm not! I was up all night waiting for you, you know. What happened to five minutes?" she questioned petulantly, and he winced. He sat down on her bed and patted the mattress beside him, prompting her to sit down as well. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait quite a bit longer, Amelia" he admitted, and she frowned in confusion. "How come?"

"It's complicated. I didn't come to take you away from here. I came to give you hope. I've seen your future, you see, and it is…incredible. But you're not old enough for it yet" the Doctor explained, making Amelia pout. "That's what all the grown-ups say" she grumbled. The Doctor chuckled softly and said "Tell you what; if you promise to go to sleep, I'll tell you a bit about what's to come" he offered. Amelia nodded eagerly, kicking off her wellies and pulling off her coat.

She snuggled down under her covers and listened to the Doctor talk of pirates and ghostly sirens, a Roman guarding his beautiful Queen for thousands of years, whales that swam through the depths of space. It wasn't long before she was fast asleep, her dreams filled with wonder. The Doctor wrote a small note, 'See you later, Pond', and left it on her bedside table. Then he went outside, where the TARDIS was waiting for him.

Romana greeted him as he stepped inside, kissing him. Is she okay?

She's sleeping, dreaming about the stars

Will you be okay?

Perhaps, eventually. It just hurts right now… "Um, how did Brian take it?" he asked aloud. "Quite well…of course, that might have been because he was talking to his grandson when we arrived" the Corsair replied, making the Doctor look at him sharply. "No, really; they adopted another child, Anthony. He um, told us where to find Melody, said that she had some things to give us, from Amy and Rory" he explained.

The directions Anthony gave were "18 September 2014, 7 Centurion Avenue, Chiswick, London, 4: 30; tell her I said hi". The Doctor was glad that this part of Chiswick was on the other side of the district from a certain former companion… they landed the TARDIS outside Melody's house on the right date and time, and approached the blue front door. Hearts thumping with trepidation, the Doctor reached out and knocked on the door. There was no answer; he tried the handle and found the house unlocked.

They went inside, navigating through the hall into a plain but cosy living room. Seated in an armchair, near an unlit fireplace, sat a small, wizened old lady, blinking up at them. For a moment, the Corsair feared she wouldn't recognise them. Before House, before Amy, he hadn't thought much of getting attached to people, especially humans…this was exactly why. Seeing Melody so elderly and frail, remembering her innocent young face beaming up at him in glee; it shattered his hearts to pieces. Now, more than ever, he understood why the Doctor didn't go back for his companions.

For a brief second, Melody seemed confused…then she smiled. "You came…I hoped you would" she murmured hoarsely, before coughing harshly. "Sorry…my lungs aren't what they used to be". Melody tried to lift herself from her armchair, but struggled, so the Corsair hurried forwards to help her. When she gave him a grateful smile, he felt tears prick at his eyes. "Melody…I'm so sorry" he apologised. She patted his cheek with her wrinkled hand. "Oh, it wasn't your fault, dear. I'm the one who got distracted".

"You were just a kid"

"Mm-hm. Time flies, eh? Now, err…what was I?...oh, yes. I have something for you all" she nodded, shuffling across the room to some shelves. The Doctor scanned her with his sonic as she made her trek and his hearts broke even more, if that were possible. "You're dying" he murmured sadly. Melody didn't respond, and then he saw the hearing aid in her ear. Oh, Melody…

She reached the shelves at last and took down a nondescript cardboard box. Only the words 'For the Time Quartet', on a faded label on the front, marked it out as important. Melody put the lid to one side and looked through the contents, murmuring to herself quietly. Seemingly satisfied, she held a faded yellow envelope out to the Corsair. "It's from my mum, for your eyes only" she explained, before handing Flavia a similar letter from her dad.

To Romana, she gave a small box, too big to be for jewellery. "Mum said to tell you not to open it until you get some good news" instructed Melody, and Romana nodded in promise. Finally, she gave the Doctor a blue covered, square embossed diary, just like the one River had; only that this one was written in by Amy and Rory. When the box was empty, she put it down again and smiled at River. "I have a special gift for you, River" she revealed, turning and shuffling towards the back of the room.

River was sad, curious and a bit apprehensive all at the same time. "What is it?" she asked. Melody stopped, in the middle of an open area, and turned around…with her hands glowing gold. "A twin sister" she smiled, as the energy began to build up. "When I was fourteen, I fell out of a tree and broke my arm. It healed in just six days. That was when our parents told me, what I really was, about being your clone. If you can regenerate, then so can I; and I've gotta tell you, I am really, really tired of being old" Melody explained, just before bursting into fiery light.

When the glow faded away, Melody had completely transformed. Gone were the wrinkles and spots of age, for the most part – she now looked about the same age as River, and that wasn't where the similarities ended. With her short but curvy body, and curly ginger hair, the new Melody resembled a cross between Amy and River, but was similar enough to the latter to pass as her not quite identical twin. "Wow, blimey! Let's see, legs, check, arms, check, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, check, hair…I'm ginger! Oh, that's great!" she beamed.

The others stared at her open mouthed. River was the first to recover from her shock, stepping forwards. "You…you look good" she complimented, not knowing what else to say. Melody grinned at her. "Thanks. So…can I come with you? I think I'm probably old enough now" she reasoned, making a mental note to change her clothes, because these ones were a bit on the small side now. "Yes, I'd…I'd like that" smiled River, before inviting her into the TARDIS to try on some new outfits.

When they were on board, the Time Lords dematerialised into deep space, when Romana was abruptly hit by yet another wave of nausea. She hurried from the console room, down the corridor to her and the Doctor's bedroom. Sending a silent thanks to the TARDIS for moving the room closer, Romana stumbled into the bathroom and leaned over the sink. As she retched, she felt cool fingers lift her hair from her face and rub her spine in small circles.

Romana washed her mouth out with water, and leaned back against the Doctor, who wrapped his arms around her. "What's happening to me?" she asked weakly, and the Doctor offered to scan her. She nodded, and gripped the porcelain sink for support as he stepped back a bit. He ran the sonic up and down and looked at the results. Romana, studying his face closely, saw his expression flicker from surprise, to joy, to worry, back to joy again, and finally he merely looked concerned, but also a little bit excited as well. "What is it? What's wrong with me?" she asked nervously.

The Doctor put his sonic away, and very deliberately placed his hands on her shoulders. "Romana, love, I need you to trust me, and I need you to be brave" he said seriously, and Romana began to fear the worst. "Am I…very ill?" she whispered, afraid. The Doctor shook his head. "The sonic doesn't say that you're ill, Romana" he told her, before a soft smile played across his features, "…it says that you're pregnant".

/

A/N: The sequel, Pregnant Preparations, will be uploaded later today.