Lost in Thought : Snippets of an Alternate POV

Goodbye Forever

"You all right, Pond?" he said quietly, knowing the answer and asking it anyway..

And as always, she straightened, pained face falling away as if it'd never been there. "Yeah, why?" she asked, looking genuinely confused at the question.

He forced a careless smile. "Oh, no reason. You know me, Amelia. Always asking the odd questions - means you get the best answers! Well, most of the time. Well, sometimes. Well..."

"Oh, just go find Rory and tell him to get his stupid face back here," his companion told him with a fond roll of her eye, successfully distracted.

He mentally pumped his fist - he'd physically done it, last time, and Amy had called him out on it and started the whole issue all over again, only that time she'd been much harder to distract, so he was very careful to do it where she couldn't see.

His smile faded as he left her behind, following the TARDIS' gentle prompts in their bond towards Rory. He was in the console room, apparently. So he hadn't gotten lost, after all, that was nice! Although it made sense, the TARDIS liked Rory. She wouldn't send him to get lost in a hallway for thirty of the most boring minutes of his life. (There was a slight, almost negligible possibility it didn't need to have taken that long, but he'd stopped for a break part way through to lie flat on the ground with his face smushed into the floor asking his ship why she'd betrayed him.)

Right. Amy. Something was definitely not right with her, possibly very wrong. He didn't have enough information yet to make a concrete guess, but he had an inkling, a very not good inkling. Maybe if he -

The TARDIS broke into his thoughts, urging him to pick up the pace to the console room. He frowned, sending out a questioning nudge along their bond. She only sent that same sense of urgency - though not panicked - so he picked up the pace.

"What's up, old girl?" he murmured. "Did you find something?"

She didn't respond and he sighed, though his curiosity had been piqued. "Rory?" he called absently, wondering if the companion had perhaps gotten lost after all.

"It's not here!" the man called back, and he relaxed a little, sensing the TARDIS extending Rory's voice to reach him through the twists and turns between them. Not lost, just unable to find it, then.

"Well, then, look below the console. It's got to be there somewhere!" he instructed, rolling his eyes. Really, how hard was it to find a bright purple (he'd gotten bored, all right? And purple made it stand out more) universal remote?

He could practically feel Rory's exasperation - or maybe that was his ship - as he continued his way to the console room, frowning when the TARDIS redirected him several times - although there was no mischief to be felt, only a feeling of... concern? She sent reassurance when he prodded at her, but the concern remained, and so he once more picked up the pace, relieved that there was no danger, but also confused as to why she would tell him to hurry up but then also delay his arrival.

Still, this wouldn't be the first time his ship had done seemingly contradictory things, and they'd always worked out in the past; so he carried on, even when it took him far longer than it should have to reach the console room. Rory still hadn't found the remote, apparently, which was odd, but maybe he'd gotten distracted by his amazing ship - he still did, sometimes, and he'd known her for ages.

Still, an impatient Amy was a dangerous Amy, so it'd be best for all of them if Rory got a move on.

"Rory! What's taking so long? You should've gotten it by now, it's not that hard to find!" he called out as he finally strode into the console room, glancing around for any sign of the errant companion.