Midnight ⋆ Doctor Who²

41. The Green Anchor

AURORA FIGURES THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THE DOCTOR ABOUT A MONTH AFTER. She had been quite busy coming to terms with infertility to notice it at first, but now, it's clear as day. He's preparing himself to let go.

She doesn't want to interfere, and frankly, just figures that the Doctor knows she's aware of what he's doing. He does. She lets him be; he's dealing with the grief of losing himself, and there's nothing she can do to help, except being there.

And stopping it from happening.

"Ro."

She snaps out of her gaze and looks up at Amy. "Hm?"

They're all sitting at the foot of the stairs that lead below the console, just talking. Well, until Aurora stopped listening. "You're spacing out again," Amy tells her.

"You've been doing this a lot lately," Rory adds.

Aurora nods. She really did let it get to her, uh. "Oh, yeah."

Amy narrows her eyes at her, staring. "So?"

"So what?"

She rolls her eyes and nudges her. "So what's on your mind, genius."

Aurora shrugs. "A lot. I don't know. I'm a Time Lady, I have a big brain." She purses her lips. "How are you?"

"Me?" Amy frowns. "Yeah I'm good."

"Are you sure?"

She takes a deep breath. "Ro. I know what happened to Melody wasn't your fault." The weight on Aurora's shoulders doesn't leave. "We both know it."

"Yeah," Rory nods. "And besides, I don't think we can ever be mad at you?"

Amy snorts. "Oh yeah, you're too cute for that."

Aurora blushes. "Shut up," she grumbles.

Her best friend's eyes light up with amusement, ready to shake Aurora out of her grim daze. "No, let's ask the Doctor first, you know?"

"Hey Doctor!" Rory cries out.

The Doctor pokes his head down.

"No!" Aurora screams.

"Yeah?" the Doctor asks at the same time, confused.

Aurora grips Rory's wrist. "Finish that sentence and I'll put your bedroom in the pool for two weeks."

He stares at her with wide eyes before slowly backing away. "Uh... Nevermind."

"Okay." The Doctor stands up again.

Amy snickers as they stand up, climbing up the stairs. "So where are we going today?"

"It's Aurora's turn to choose," the Doctor tells them, not looking up.

Aurora frowns. "What?"

"What?" Amy cries out at the same time.

"You choose." He looks up at Aurora. "So where do you want to go?"

She blinks again, confused. "Me? Again?"

"Come on, she chose the last six destinations!" Amy complains.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're trying to earn her forgiveness," Rory says.

"I am. And it's my ship—" She sends him a look. "—our ship. I'm the one who chooses who chooses." They stare at him. "This sentence didn't make sense to me either."

Aurora sighs and puts her hands on the console, waiting for him to look at her. "Doctor." Their eyes meet. "How many times do I have to tell you? What they did to me on Demons Run wasn't your fault."