Chapter Text
July 21st 1969
The soft rapping on the front window made the older couple jump. Rory turned to look at the grandfather clock on the far wall of the living room. He squinted as he attempted to read the time, getting older had taken a toll on his body. He joints groaned as he turned back to stare at whoever was behind the curtained window. Half an hour more or maybe it was twenty minutes Rory thought, unable to remember which was correct.
Amy was standing up slowly, waiting for her son to sweep into the room and answer the door for her, but he remained cowering somewhere within the upper depths of the house. She stood fully and hobbled to the door peering through the peep hole at the young woman on the doorstep.
"Mrs. Williams." The young blonde woman called out in a chipper voice. Betsy Harris, now Collins had always lived two houses down from them. She had always been in Lee’s grade at school and the two girls had been casual friends until Junior High, when Betsy discovered boys and Lee discovered rocketry. Since then Amy and Rory had seen her only in passing, until she married a young man the week after turning 18 and moved to Staten Island.
Amy peered at her a bit longer than usual before opening the door. Betsy’s high waited floral dress had such a flared skirt she looked like a bell as a young boy in dress pants and an unbuttoned polo shirt was held captive by her right hand while her left bounced a bonneted baby up and down on her hip. "It was just on the news, a broadcast from the Apollo mission." She said breathlessly "My parents for all their years are two stubborn to get a color television, and I was hoping that Johnny... Well you know it's such an event."
"Yes, yes come in.” Amy replied as she stood aside allowing the young women and her children to enter.
"Goodness you don’t even have the television on." Betsy hummed as she swept into the living room, allowing the small boy out of her grasp as soon as Amy closed the door behind her.
Amy smiled slightly as she glared at Rory from behind Betsy's back. He fumbled around the coffee table, playing the part of the doddering old man he was slowly becoming. "Anthony is here." Amy said softly "He was going to turn it on when it was time." She said as a poor excuse for their apparent lack in crucial American history. The fact was, today was a day when the Williams family would rather look the other way than watch was going to unfold.
Betsy smiled at them politely sitting down on an empty chair and smoothing out her dress. Amy smiled back at her; the seeming perfection of the little girl who had once ran down the street sending shivers down her spine. As much as it worried Amy, the sight of the housewife Betsy Collins seemed to ease her own fears of her own daughter. Yes, Lily was traveling all of time and space unprotected, but at least she was living of her own accord and following her heart. "Is Lily around?" Betsy asked politely, because that was the thing to do.
Amy opened her mouth slightly as she thought, but it was Rory who answered first. "She's upstairs."
"Really?" Amy inquired quite surprised.
"She got in early this morning; apparently she was out west for work." Rory muttered giving Amy a glare which communicated very clearly where and when Lee had come from.
"Would you like me to go up and get her?" Betsy said adjusting the infant on her knee. Just then Anthony walked into the living room. He smiled at Betsy whose face had lit up at the sight of him.
He smirked and the tilted his head to the ceiling. "Lily Tabitha Williams get down here, history is about to happen."
Feet came crashing down the stairs as Lee in loose fitting trousers and a button down top came running into the room. "Oh come on Anthony, we all know…. Betsy." She exclaimed sweetly as she noticed the childhood friend sitting in the room. Lee calmly walked into the rest of the room, slyly hitting Anthony in the arm as she gave her old friend a one armed hug. Lee sat down on the sofa, twisting her newly auburn hair behind her shoulders as she looked at Betsy with a plastered on smile.
"I thought you were a secretary at an ad agency, what were you doing on the west coast?" Her former friend asked.
"Helping with some film commercials, they prefer to do them out there." Lee lied with a smile. "And you, still on Staten Island?"
"Yes, but we are considering Jersey." Betsy replied with another sardonic smile.
“Why don’t I go get us some drinks.” Lee said turning towards the kitchen door. “Shout if anything happens.” She added with a smile as she quickly walked into the kitchen.
The small group sat in the living room, while the television news broadcast droned on. Betsy talking quite animatedly to Anthony while Amy preoccupied Johnny was some no doubt thrilling stories and Rory confined to his chair reading the morning paper. Barely five minutes had past when a scream accompanied by the shattering of glass came from the kitchen. All four adults made a motion to stand up, but it was Anthony who muttered. “I’ll go see what must be troubling Lee.”
“Anthony.” Amy called out, wanting very much to finish her sentence but not finding the way to say the right thing in an inconspicuous manner left her mouth hanging open. He nodded at her as he turned and walked briskly away, knowing that it was very likely about to find one some unexpected in the kitchen.
When he opened the door he saw the two women standing at either end of the small kitchen. An outwardly growing puddle of iced tea and glass flowing in between them. Lee was standing with her back to the kitchen door, her hands visibly shaking. The other woman was standing by the back door a trail of mud from the garden behind her.
“Anthony.” River called out, her face illuminating as she saw him. “I’m afraid that I’ve given…” But she looked at the girl standing in front of her blankly. She was unable to recognize her even though she felt the deep yearning towards her.
“Lee, my little sister Lee.” Anthony said flatly, feeling the veins in his neck beginning to bulge with tension.
“Lee, I’ve given Lee quite a fright.” River responded, shaking her head gently so that her golden curls bounced up and down. “How are you Lee?” She asked out of simple courtesy because her face was clearly showing that River was attempting to remember if she had skipped something major in the Ponds post-TARDIS life. “Look at that, it’s nearly show time.” She added as she gracefully glided past Lee and Anthony into the living room.
Lee’s hand was still shaking when Anthony took a hold of it and pulled her into a tight embrace. “I can’t imagine what it must be like.” He whispered as the kitchen door closed behind them.
“It’s awful.” Lee sobbed into his shoulder. “But she had every right to be here.” Lee pulled away from him, wiping away at her tears with both hands.
“You haven’t run into her much have you?” Anthony said as he took a cloth and began picking up the pieces of glass and tossing them in the trash.
“I’ve been avoiding both of them, successfully.” She chuckled. “We need to go back in. Betsy will wonder.”
“You going to be alright?” She nodded quickly and the pair walked back into the living room. River had taken a seat next to Amy and was talking with her quietly as the pair returned. Anthony sat next to River on the sofa, nearest to Betsy while Lee perched on her father’s chair.
Lee dug her finger nails into her palm as she tried to steady her breath and calm down. The television seemed to b be louder than usual, as the men on the screen talked about what was going to happen in a matter of moments. Lee wanted to run, to go and be alone. If it had just been her own family in the room she could have. She could have left and no one would have said a think. River would have forgotten ever meeting her the moment she left the room. But the audience of Betsy and her two children had tied Lee to the arm rest. Tears were beginning to swim in her eyes as she felt her father grab a tight hold of her quivering hand.
"How was Area 51?" Rory asked in a whisper.
"Good." She laughed, her face suddenly breaking into a façade of life. "You were certainty very young."
"Did I see you back them?" Rory asked his daughter in surprise.
"You were unconscious and very unaware of what was to come." She replied playfully as she leaned in towards him.
"So are you," Rory whispered as he squeezed her hand noticing the darkness seeping into her expression. "But you’ll be alright in the end, Lee.”
"Mommy, mommy look." Johnny was pointing to the television screen where the announcer was beginning to describe what they were about to see, the first broadcasts to earth from outer space, Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon.
The mismatched family and the distant neighbor watched as history was made in one short clip, a memorable sound bite, and a subconscious warning against alien attacks . Only for a few of them was it the first time they had seen the event. Amy and Rory looked not at the screen but at their children's faces. Anthony as he smiled softly at finally understanding the event. River’s face was glazed over by forgotten traumas, and the joyful memories of a naive time. And Lee sitting on the arm of a chair, her eyes filling with tears for so many reasons. Yes it was groundbreaking, but for the twenty three year old it was also heart breaking, yet another reminder of the history that had been forged in order to affect the course of her blossoming life.
It was gone in a flash, Betsy muttering her thanks and ushering her kids out as the elder Williams memories were filled with what was happening somewhere in Florida at this very moment. Those had been the days, when none of them fully knew the story. When it was still just chasing monsters and running down corridors with little consequences.
Lee stood up; the sagging of her shoulders seeming to indicate that she would be gone from the house within the hour. "I have...something across town I need to do." She scurried up the stairs only to surprisingly return moments latter with a small packed bag in her hands.
"Lee." Amy whispered as she watched her daughter grab her coat from the rack. She saw the resolution in her youngest face and stood up knowing that Lee was intending on doing.
"Mom I have to." Lee whispered as she buttoned up her coat. "I can't think of any way he could get to her."
Amy pulled her in and hugged her tightly. "Six months to the day Park and 34th. Leave her in Gloucester 91" she whispered into her hair. "Thank you so much Lee. Thank you for saving her." She kissed her daughters head, proud that Lee could ever be so brave.
Lee nodded as she turned towards the door, opening it slowly as she stepped out into the afternoon sun. It would be quite a long time until she returned.