I found myself walking back to the TARDIS in a frustrated daze. She said no. How could she do that? The day we needed her most and she's suddenly afraid of.. of him finding out who the hell she is? If she can just leave us to get Amy out of that hell hole like that, I'm not sure I want to know who she is. I'm not sure I care! We needed her, damn it, and she just.. ponced off back into her cell. The whole thought just makes me ill. Well, so be it. The hell with her. There might be a day I'll forgive her for this, but I can't think when that'll ever be.

Right.. focus time. Somewhere in this muck our child and my soulmate are afraid and alone. Not anymore, not ever again.

The Doctor had warned me, again, to keep to the shadows. Also, there were things here called Headless Monks which sounded a fright for a start. But there wasn't time for that. Fear was a luxury I didn't have time for. I thought of my poor lady and our baby, scared and God only knew what condition they were in. They needed the Doctor. They needed me. I couldn't fail them.

So many times making my way along those halls, I was nearly caught and I'd permit myself a silent prayer that I hadn't been. Failure isn't an option, Roman.

I admit, though, more than once the thought they'd been here so damnably long nearly undid me. I'd have to fight back tears of humiliation and worry. No fear. No sadness. No time, Roman, no damned time! I cannot fail them again, I can't.

Right, lad.. steady on. Okay..think. The best option: get myself in between Kovarian's escape craft and where the scans had said her office was likely to be. Suddenly, I heard a voice ahead of me that could only be her.. and there she was, with a baby carrier! My gladius was out and I had her right there, in my power and I could have ended her. I could have. I should have. But that's not how the Doctor does things, not even now.

Oh, the look on her face when Captain Avery and Toby came through that door!

Amy, I love you. Please.. please hold on. I've got our baby and I'm coming for you. Please be there, please be okay. Please.

Okay.. right. Right. This is it, this is her room. I knocked on the door like a man possessed and I was screaming inside for her to answer please answer for God's sake answer .. and then she did, and true to form she was, well, she was being herself even then.

Oh, dear God I love this woman.

As much as I wanted to break down in a blubbering mess just then, I knew what she needed to hear and so I went all sarky as I set the baby's carrier on the floor and got out the Doctor's sonic. Think about that, would you?:That man trusted me with his sonic. He does that for.. well, fo nobody I've seen.. well, outside of me, back in that Pandorica business. Huh.

I heard her voice after she recognized me. She sounded small, and God so brave, and so tired. Then the door opened and I held our baby in my arms.. and then I saw her. Oh, God she's so beautiful. Even now, my angel on Earth is the most beautiful woman possible. I'm here, beautiful, and okay, yeah. Keeping cool, got to keep cool.

I don't think I've ever been so terrified in my life.

I teleported over, heart in my throat the entire time because I was absolutely convinced I'd materialize in the middle of some huge circle of Cybermen and that'd be it for Muggins 'ere. Either that or alarms would immediately go off and I'd be surrounded in short order by homicidal tin cans. Alarms did go off, but praise be I didn't see a single silver nightmare for several long minutes after. Right, then. Shadows it is and on we go.

Okay, yes, fifteen levels of this ship to get through. Fifteen levels to cripple or at least hopelessly snarl. What have I got? A gladius and a sonic screwdriver. Brilliant.

Thing was, it worked. It worked like a flippin' charm. They had security measures in place, obviously, but in between that blessed sonic and me being just the one person and knowing how to stick to shadows, I only had to put down one Cyberman along the way.

What really got my blood pumping was level after level hearing the intruder alerts sound.. well, I don't know how to put it. They had no emotion, so it wasn't panic, but the increase in urgency with each level I passed was incredible. For a male nurse from Leadworth, that's a hell of a thing to hear.

Level after level, hallway after lift shaft, I became more focused and felt somethin I can only describe as a cold determination take over. I thought about my Amy and the fact that somewhere out there she was having our firstborn child, kidnapped by some evil bastard I was going to have a very hard time not ending. But that wasn't how the Doctor did things, and more importantly it wasn't the kind of man I wanted to be.

That didn't mean I'd hesitate to if there was a choice between Amy and our child's freedom and whoever did this' life. No contest at all.

So in the end, there I was at the last door, the one that led onto the flagship bridge. I soniced it open, and the entire huge (and I mean bloody massive) bridge full of them turned to me at the same time. They knew I was the one who'd done this, who'd turned their precious flagship into a joke and left it crippled. Me. I made the bloody great Cybermen hesitate to try me. I won't lie, that was a pretty powerful feeling. Time to follow up, I told myself.

"I have a message and a question. A message from the Doctor and a question from me - Where. Is. My. Wife?" I glared around and they still didn't move. "Oh, don't give me those blank looks." I snorted and marched right out in front of them, staring them down like death himself in a Roman uniform.

I went through the whole speech I'd prepared in my head in front of them and never faltered. Then the one the Doctor had told me would be the Cyber Leader asked the inevitable question: "What is the Doctor's message?"

They proceeded to watch as their entire Legion were blown to atoms outside their viewport window. I stared them down, death riding on every syllablke. "Would you like me to repeat the question?"

Rory sat on the edge of their bed, staring at the wall opposite in the low lighting of his and Amy's room on the TARDIS. He worried at his lower lip, nearly sawing it clean through with his teeth in anticipation of the Doctor's arrival. Today was the day, after all - the day he put the armor of a soldier that never really was back on and faced down the cream of a Cybermen legion to ask a question, to deliver a message. Moreover, he'd be doing it alone - a quick, surgical strike the Doctor had said, and it made sense. After all, one person keeping to shadows and occasional acts of sabotage to reach his goal would be far easier to manage.

Speed and stealth would be of the essence. It had to be him.

That didn't stop the hollow pit in his gut, the aching need to do this. He would find his wife, he would bring her home safe and all the gods in all their heavens pity the fool who got in their way.

The knot in his midsection only tightened when he saw their wedding picture. Placing a trembling kiss to her likeness, he felt his blood begin to roar free when the Doctor knocked, words completely unnecessary. It was time. They were there. Whoever was behind this was about to learn a very, very final lesson. Strapping his gladius to his side, he marched off to the console room with the Doctor. His face held no emotion, his gait steady and sure.

TODAY I WAS HUMMING 'TOGETHER OR NOT AT ALL'

sorry lovely <3 people just were flipping their shit and i felt like they shouldn’t be fooled

this was in 2006 this is not from the 50th calm