A nice little 850 word drabble. A companion piece to "And Suddenly" by the unquestionably awesome Bialy. My first attempt at ElevenxAmy, AmyxRory and generally romance. Hope you like it!

"What?"

"Gotcha."

"...Gotcha."

A hug. It was just a hug.

The words repeated in her head, beating themselves into her skull like a drum. Her body was so close to his with the aching longing of fourteen long years of loneliness. She wondered if he could feel her heartbeat thump faster through her nightdress.

He was the mad man with a box – the raggedy Doctor. And she was the girl who waited.

When she was seven, Ameila Pond had admired the Doctor. The strange man with his fish custard for whom she had so eagerly packed her suitcase. The man she had waited for twelve years. Four psychiatrists had tried and failed to convince her he wasn't real. They had tried many methods and ways to change her mind. By the fourth, she had almost given up hope of him returning. This was not the five minutes he promised. But she never doubted he was real.

He had come back to her, just like he had promised. She had waited so patiently for her raggedy Doctor. For twenty minutes, twenty glorious minutes, she could be seven again. Only now, she saw him through new eyes. No longer was he an enigmatic adult. She had grown up. This was a woman who had fallen in love with the idea of a man. And what a man he was.

He left shortly after. She returned to the monotony of normal life. She threw out her costumes. There was a better life than this. A week later, she noticed a 'wanted' ad in the post office. There was a job opening at a travel agent in Gloucester. She applied. She may not be able to traverse the stars but she could help others travel.

Rory offered to drive her to work. She had intended to take the bus but he was eager and bright-eyed and she couldn't say no. In these half hour journeys, she would talk endlessly of the Doctor and his adventure in Leadworth. She noticed how Rory's grip would tighten on the steering wheel when she mentioned her raggedy Doctor with such affection in her voice. After several weeks, conversation began to dry up. Two months later, when feelings of abandonment settled in, the topic changed. Rory's grip slackened.

The job lasted six months. The company had to made redundancies because of 'financial difficulties' and the new receptionist was one of the first to go. Rory visited that night. He brought chocolates and a DVD. They sat and watched it silence at opposite ends of the sofa. By the conclusion of the film, Amy had drifted off. Rory carried her to bed and tucked her in.

It was December now; a long time since Easter. There was a light coating of snow on the roads as Rory drove Amy to another temporary job; this time as Santa's helper at a shopping centre in Gloucester. Amy saw Rory grin as she climbed in the car in a far-too-revealing green dress with faux pointed ears.

Christmas Eve rolled around far too quickly. With Amy's job officially over, she and Rory went to dinner. Nothing fancy, just the local pub. Rory's cheeks grew redder as he drank and Amy laughed at his jokes even though they weren't funny. And then a silence came over the pub as Rory seemed to trip. He was on one knee. Oh god.

She said yes in the end. She couldn't humiliate Rory in front of the whole pub. And her Doctor wasn't coming back. She would settle for a normal life. She would be Mrs. Rory Williams.

Two years ago, her imaginary friend had appeared. Tonight, he reappeared. And in the dead of night, the night before her wedding day, she ran away with the Doctor in his magical blue box.

For him, barely a day had passed. Amy had lost track of how many days she'd had to fall in love with the idea of the Doctor. The man who travelled the stars in his little blue box. He took her to her the future. The sights she saw.

And here she was now, with the man who had left her twice and broke her heart. Tomorrow, a long time ago, she was meant to be walking up the aisle. But how could she when she didn't love him? Rory was a marriage of convenience – a sweet boy who had always pampered her and said the right things. The nice guy that every girl wanted; every girl but her.

To him, she was a stranger. A little girl one minute; a woman the next. But he was the same with his never-aging face. A face she'd come to like. She liked him a lot. He is fire, burning through the heart of the universe. Always running, never stopping.

It was just a hug, she reminded herself as she fell in love.

Very old and very kind and the very very last. So much crippling loneliness. She could make him better, she reckoned. She could be his Doctor.