Prologue

"Amy? Amy, can you hear me?"

The Doctor yelled at Amy as he carried her back to the TARDIS. They had been exploring the planet, walking through a dense forest when suddenly out of nowhere; someone used a blowgun and shot a dart into her neck. Amy lost consciousness and fell to the ground, convulsing for a moment before she passed out and became still. Since then, the Doctor and Rory had been running hell for leather back to the TARDIS before something else happened. They reached the TARDIS and the Doctor managed to snap his fingers. The doors flew open and the Doctor ran inside, trusting Rory to shut the door as he ran through the console room to the med bay.

"Amy, can you hear me?" the Doctor said as he laid her on the examination table.

He gently opened her right eyelid and noticed her pupil was dilated. He asked the TARDIS to run a scan and a red light swept down her body from a metal scanner machine mounted above the table. The scan finished and the Doctor read the findings on a small monitor on the right side of the machine. He grimaced when he saw that Amy had been hit with a slow acting poison. Reading that the poison was Datrium, he rushed to his cabinets to find the antidote.

Meanwhile, Rory stood in the shadows outside the med bay door, arms crossed over his chest, giving the Time Lord a baleful look. He snorted when he heard the Doctor mutter aloud to himself about where he might be and he decided at that moment to step inside the room.

"Oh, there you are," the Doctor said. "We need to start a drip so I can administer the antidote to Amy."

Rory bit back his rage for the moment, knowing his wife's life hung in the balance. He helped the Doctor prepare an IV bag and then he put the needle into her arm. They worked feverishly and both of them breathed a sigh of relief when the Doctor checked the scanner and noticed she had stabilized. Rory was about to say something when the Doctor patted him on the shoulder.

"Good job," he said. "Stay here with her; I need to make sure the TARDIS is secure. Be right back."

Rory nodded, annoyed that the Doctor didn't seem to notice how angry he was. He glared at the Time Lord when he ran out of the room. When he was gone, he looked down at his wife, sleeping peacefully on the examination table, a white cotton blanket over her body and a soft pillow under her head. He gave her a tender kiss on the forehead.

"I'm tired of this, I'm tired of him doing this to you," Rory murmured to her. "That bastard doesn't care about anyone except himself, doesn't care who gets hurt while he goes stumbling around unfamiliar planets. I've had it."

"Had what?"

Rory looked up and saw the Doctor standing in the doorway, a confused look on his face. Seeing him brought all of Rory's anger back and he stomped over to him.

"I've had it with you putting my wife in danger," he snarled as he jabbed a finger back at Amy. "Did you know how close she came to dying?"

The Doctor was shocked at his friend's outburst for a moment before he recovered from it.

"Yes, Rory, I'm well aware of how close she came to death. I was the one who scanned her and prepared the antidote for her and frankly, I don't like your tone of voice."

Rory's jaw dropped at that. He gritted his teeth and suddenly he slapped the Doctor as hard as he could across the face. The Doctor reeled back in shock and grunted when Rory seized him by the lapels of his jacket and jerked him back.

"I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO USE THIS TONE OF VOICE!" he bellowed. "I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE ANGRY, YOU BASTARD! YOU NEARLY KILLED HER…AGAIN! HOW MANY TIMES WILL AMY COME CLOSE TO DYING BEFORE YOU REALIZE HOW DANGEROUS YOU ARE TO BE AROUND!"

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO STAY HERE, YOU KNOW!" the Doctor raged back. "I LET YOU AND YOUR WIFE TRAVEL WITH ME BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO. NO ONE IS HOLDING A BLEEDIN' GUN TO YOUR HEAD AND MAKING YOU STAY HERE, RORY! IF YOU'RE SO CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR WIFE, WHY ARE YOU LETTING HER STAY HERE? SEEMS TO ME YOU'RE JUST AS RESPONSIBLE FOR HER NEAR DEATHS AS I AM SINCE YOU KEEP ON LETTING ME TAKE HER PLACES!"

Rory was shocked by the rage on the Doctor's face, how black his eyes looked and how threatening he looked. He let go and stumbled back while the Doctor breathed hard through his nose. His rage dimmed slightly but he was still furious and the two men stood a few feet apart glaring at each other.

The Doctor tried to get his rage under control, both anger and hurt welled up inside him and it took all he had in him not to ball up his fist and break Rory's nose. Aware that he might do that, he turned without a word and stomped away till he could calm down and cool off. Rory watched him go, his stomach in knots, knowing that the Doctor had a point about him letting Amy stay onboard and travel with him when he was constantly putting her life in danger. He slumped into a chair and fought back the tears as he reached up and took his wife's hand. He held it and stared at her quietly while the Doctor watched them from the shadows just beyond the med bay door.