Chapter Text
For as long as Rory could remember, he had always had this strange feeling. The feeling of not being himself. The feeling that he could not remember something very important. But of course when his friends asked him about having that feeling he lied. He knew that they weren’t talking about the same thing. It didn’t really bother him much really. He had gotten used to the feeling. The bursts of strange violent emotions that didn’t belong to him. The dreams that were even stranger. Those things were all a part of him now and he never tried to share it with anyone. He could not let anyone think that he was anything out of ordinary. At the end of the day, he had to play the role of plain old Rory.
Though there was a time when the headaches got too much and he decided to get it diagnosed. Migraine, they said. He accepted it at that time and took the pills when they occurred. The medication did nothing more than reassuring his parents. He knew it wasn't a migraine, not only because the pills were practically useless but also because he knew migraines weren’t like drumbeats.
Life went on. He met a beautiful girl with gorgeous red hair. They became friends. At some point, they started to play this game where he would pretend to be ‘The Doctor’. He didn’t know why but it rang bells in his head like he was so close to the answers to all the questions he ever had. One day Amelia Pond realized that he was not gay and gave a shot at a relationship. Rory knew that he had to keep her. He couldn’t exactly tell why but he knew that it would lead to something big and so he did what he was best at…pretending. He pretended to be shy and hesitant at first. Later, when the time was right, he pretended to be in love with her. These things never helped him earn any respect from her but it did ensure that she wouldn't leave him.
All was going well until he started to notice that Amy was getting distant. She would talk less and tried to ignore him. It was what she would get like when she wanted something. So, to keep her he did what she wanted. He proposed to her. Of course, she said yes but she could tell that he really wasn’t into it. Her exact words were ‘Why aren’t you more bothered?’. Apparently, she was smarter than she looked.
When strange things started to happen in the hospital he worked in, he knew it was something big. He was sure that he wasn’t crazy. As soon as he left the hospital after being told to take a leave, he looked down at his watch. It had been with him for as long as he could remember and he had actually grown quite fond of it. It would ground him and make him feel alive when he wore it and so he wore it all the time. He wasn’t afraid of losing it as he would find it whenever he misplaced it. It was almost as if it didn’t want to leave Rory. Being wanted by someone or well something was quite an amazing feeling.
Soon after the whole ordeal, he met The Doctor. The universe seemed to shift back into its place when Rory laid his eyes on him. The Doctor, like everyone else, didn’t pay much attention to him. Instead, it was all about Amelia. If he was like everyone else, he would have been extremely jealous. It wasn’t hard to see that Amelia was attracted to him. She was showing so much interest in the strange man. Certainly, more than she ever showed him. But frankly, he didn’t quite care about her. Besides, it seemed that The Doctor too was unaffected by her advances.
Rory did not see the doctor for the next two years But when he did, it was on his wedding day. Rory had always been a wonderful actor. Throughout his life, he had put up a show of being nothing out of ordinary. This is because he never felt the need to know himself. The drums and the dreams never quite bothered him but meeting the odd man had made him want that. It made him want to be different. It made him want to feel powerful and be in control. Obviously, he suppressed those emotions and pretended to excited about the upcoming wedding. His wedding. Having The Doctor crash the party almost came as a relief. It was a break from his dull boring life.
When he stepped in the blue box (Tardis, The Doctor called it), the fact that it was bigger on the inside didn’t quite surprise him and that was when he made his first mistake. He just went ahead and looked around while the other two stared at him in confusion. It took him a while to realize that they were waiting for his explanation but it was too late by then so he said something about research.