(Over the view of someone using a proper old-fashioned manual typewriter and talking like a Raymond Chandler character.)

GARNER [OC]: New York. The city of a million stories. Half of them are true. The other half just haven't happened yet. Statues, the man said. Living statues that moved in the dark.

[Grayle's study]

(On the ground floor of a rich man's home.)

GRAYLE: So, will you take the case, Mister Garner?

GARNER: Sure. Why not?

GRAYLE: Because you don't believe me.

GARNER: For twenty five dollars a day plus expenses, I'll believe any damn thing you like.

GRAYLE: But you don't believe that statues can move. And you're right, Mister Garner. They can't. Of course they can't. When you're looking.

(Across the street, in the rain, is a statue of a woman and child.)

GARNER: Good night, Mister Grayle.

(Sam Garner leaves. Grayle looks out of the window again, and the woman has vanished from the plinth across the road.)

GARNER [OC]: The address Grayle gave me was an apartment block near Battery Park. He said it was where the statues lived. I asked him why he didn't go look himself. He didn't answer. Grayle was the scariest guy I knew. If something scared him, I kinda wanted to shake its hand.

[Winter Quay apartments]

(The building is smothered in statuary, including a Weeping Angel. A little girl looking out of a window covers her eyes, then peeks out and covers them again. The doors open for Garner and he goes inside. The Weeping Angel has removed her hands and is snarling.)

GARNER: Hello? Hello?

(The lift comes down for him. He steps inside and it goes up. The Angel is in the foyer.)

GARNER: What the?

(Garner leaves the lift and goes along the red-carpeted corridor to 702, which has the nameplate S Garner. The door is unlocked and he goes inside.)

GARNER: Hello? Anyone home?

(His had and coat are hanging on the rack, and his PI's id is in the wallet. Older and more dog-eared, but the same one. Then he hears someone grunting.)

GARNER: Hello?

(He looks at the old man in the bedroom.)

GARNER: Who are you?

OLD GARNER: They're coming for you. They're going to send you back.

GARNER: Who's coming? Back where?

OLD GARNER: In time. Back in time. I'm you. I'm you.

(Garner leaves the apartment but is trapped between two Angels. There are more on the stairs below, so he runs to the roof. A giant snarling face is right behind him. Lady Liberty.)

GARNER: You gotta be kiddin' me.

[New York Central Park]

STING: (singing) Whoa, I'm an alien. I'm a legal alien. I'm an Englishman in New York.

(Picnicking near the Duck Pond.)

DOCTOR: (reading) New York growled at my window, but I was ready for it. My stocking seams were straight, my lipstick was combat ready, and I was packing cleavage that could fell an ox at twenty feet.

AMY: Doctor, you're doing it again.

DOCTOR: I'm reading!

AMY: Aloud. Please could you not?

DOCTOR: There's something different about you, isn't there?

RORY: What's the book?

DOCTOR: Melody Malone. She's a private detective in old town New York.

AMY: She's got ice in her heart and a kiss on her lips, and a vulnerable side she keeps well hidden.

DOCTOR: Oh, you've read it?

AMY: You read it. Aloud. And then went yowzah!

RORY: Only you could fancy someone in a book.

DOCTOR: I'm just reading it. I just like the cover.

AMY: Ooo, can we see the cover?

DOCTOR: No, no, I'm busy. It's your hair! Is it your hair?

AMY: Oh, shut up. It's the glasses. I'm wearing reading glasses now, on my nose, see? There you go.

DOCTOR: I don't like them. They make your eyes look all liney. No, actually, sorry. They're fine. Carry on.

RORY: Okay, I'm going to go and get us some more coffee. Who wants more coffee? Me too. I'll go!

AMY: Rory, do I have noticeable lines on my eyes now?

DOCTOR: Yes.

RORY: No.

AMY: You didn't look.

RORY: I noticed them earlier. Didn't notice them. I specifically remember not noticing them.

AMY: You walk among fire pits, Centurion.

RORY: Do I have to come over there?

AMY: You can if you like.

RORY: Well, we have company.

AMY: I'll get a babysitter.

(Rory and Amy kiss.)

DOCTOR: Oh, do you know, it is so humiliating when you do that.

RORY: Coffee?

AMY: Coffee.

DOCTOR: Can I have a go?

(The Doctor puts on Amy's reading glasses.)

DOCTOR; Oh, actually, that is much better. That is exciting.

AMY: Read to me.

DOCTOR: I thought you didn't like my reading aloud.

AMY: Shut up, and read me a story. Just don't go yowzah.

(The Doctor chuckles and tears out the last page of his book.)

AMY: Why did you do that?

DOCTOR: I always rip out the last page of a book. Then it doesn't have to end. I hate endings.

(He puts the page in the picnic basket.)

DOCTOR: (reads) As I crossed the street, I saw the thin guy, but he didn't see me. I guess that's how it began.

(Rory is walking back with the coffees past a fountain with cherubs. After he has past it, one of the cherubs is snarling, then it vanishes. A child laughs. It's giggles make Rory keep looking around.)

DOCTOR: (reads) I followed the skinny guy for two more blocks before he turned and I could ask exactly what he was doing here. He looked a little scared, so I gave him my best smile and my bluest eyes.

(Amy is playing Pooh sticks off the bridge.)

AMY: Beware the yowzah. Do not, at this point, yowz. Doctor? What did the skinny guy say?

DOCTOR: He said, 'I just went to get coffees for the Doctor and Amy. Hello, River.'

[Central Park - night]

RIVER: Hello, Dad.

RORY: Where am I? How the hell did I get here?

RIVER: I haven't the faintest idea, but you'll probably want to put your hands up.

(Because the man behind him is pointing a gun straight at him. Rory puts his hands up. A big black man walks up behind River.)

HOOD 1: Melody Malone?

RORY: You're Melody?

(A limousine pulls up.)

HOOD 1: Get in.

[New York]

(The Doctor and Amy return to the Tardis.)

AMY: What's River doing in a book? What's Rory doing in a book?

DOCTOR: He went to get coffee. Pay attention.

AMY: He went to get coffee and turned up in a book. How does that work?

DOCTOR; I don't know. We're in New York!

[Limousine]

RORY: What is going on?

[Tardis]

AMY: Where did you get this book?

DOCTOR: It was in my jacket.

AMY: How did it get there?

DOCTOR: How does anything get there. I've given up asking. Date, date. Does she mention a date? When is this happening?

AMY: Yes, hang on. Oh, April 3rd, 1938.

[Limousine]

RIVER: You didn't come here in the Tardis, obviously.

RORY: Why?

RIVER: He couldn't have.

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: Couldn't have? What does she mean? Couldn't have?

[Limousine]

(Passing Grand Central Station.)

RIVER: This city's full of time distortions. It'd be impossible to land the Tardis here. Like trying to land a plane in a blizzard. Even I couldn't do it.

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: Even who couldn't do it?

AMY: Don't you two fall out, she's only in a book.

DOCTOR: 1938. Easy one.

(Bang! Flash! Sparks! Warning, The scanner reports Temporal Distortions Detected, then No Signal.)

AMY: What was that?

DOCTOR: 1938. We just bounced off it.

[Limousine]

RORY: So how did you get here?

RIVER: Vortex manipulator. Less bulky than a Tardis. A motorbike through traffic. You?

RORY: I'm not sure.

[Graveyard]

(The Doctor has landed so he can put out the fires in the Tardis. Nice view overlooking Manhattan.)

AMY: The Weeping Angels?

DOCTOR: It makes sense.

AMY: It makes what?

DOCTOR: That's what happened to Rory. That's what the Angels do. It's their preferred form of attack. They zap you back in time, let you live to death.

AMY: Well, we've got a time machine. We can just go and get him.

DOCTOR: Well, tried that, if you've noticed, and we are back where we started in 2012.

AMY: We didn't start in a graveyard. What are we doing here?

DOCTOR: Don't know. Probably causally linked somehow. Doesn't matter. Extractor fans on!

AMY: Well, we're going to get there somehow. We're in the rest of the book.

DOCTOR: Doing what?

AMY: Page 43, you're going to break something.

DOCTOR: I'm what?

AMY: (reads) 'Why do you have to break mine', I asked the Doctor. He frowned and said, 'Because Amy read it in a book and now I have no choice.'

DOCTOR: Stop! No! No! Stop! You can't read ahead. You mustn't. And you can't do that.

AMY: But we've already been reading it.

DOCTOR: Just the stuff that's happening now, in parallel with us. That's as far as we go.

AMY: But it could help us find Rory.

DOCTOR: And if you read ahead and find that Rory dies? This isn't any old future, Amy, it's ours. Once we know what's coming, it's fixed. 0 I'm going to break something, because you told me that I'm going to do it. No choice now.

AMY: Time can be rewritten.

DOCTOR: Not once you've read it. Once we know what's coming, it's written in stone.

(Like the gravestone nearby that says In Loving Memory Rory Arthur Williams.)

[Grayle's entrance hall]

(River spots a china vase.)

RIVER: Ah. Early Qin dynasty, I'd say.

GRAYLE: Correct. Are you an archaeologist as well as a detective?

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: Okay, landing a plane in a timey wimey blizzard. I could push through, but if I'm out by a nanosecond, the engines will phase and I'll shatter the planet. I need landing lights.

AMY: Landing lights?

DOCTOR: Yes, I need a signal to lock on to. What did she say? Early what dynasty?

[Grayle's entrance hall]

GRAYLE: Early Qin, just as you say. You're very well informed.

RIVER: And you're very afraid. That's an awful lot of locks for one door.

RORY: River, I'm translating.

(Chinese characters resolve themselves into English for Rory.)

RIVER: It's a gift of the Tardis. It hangs around.

GRAYLE: This one. Put him somewhere uncomfortable.

HOOD 1: With the babies, sir?

GRAYLE: Yes, why not? Give him to the babies.

[Grayle's cellar]

(The hoodlum throws Rory down the stairs.)

HOOD 1: The lights are out. You'll last longer with these.

(He throws down a box of matches.)

RORY: What do you care?

HOOD 1: It's funnier.

(Childish giggling.)

RORY: Hello?

[China 221 BC]

(In a plate decorating workshop.)

DOCTOR: Ah, hello, yes.

(The Doctor flashes his psychic paper.)

DOCTOR: Special commission from the Emperor.

[Grayle's study]

(As Grayle helps River off with her mackintosh, she spots the word Yowzah on one of the vases.)

RIVER: Hello, sweetie. Let's see, crime boss with a collecting fetish. Whatever you don't let anyone else see has got to be your favourite. Or possibly your girlfriend.

(River pulls the curtains to reveal a snarling Angel with manacles and chains on it.)

RIVER: So, girlfriend, then.

(River starts tapping on her Vortex manipulator keypad.)

GRAYLE: What are you doing?

RIVER: Oh, you know, texting a boy.

[Tardis]

(Yowzah comes up on the scanner.)

DOCTOR: Landing lights. We have a signal. Locking on.

[Grayle's study]

GRAYLE: These things are all over, but people don't seem to notice. It never moves while you're looking.

RIVER: Oh, I know how they work.

GRAYLE: So I understand. Melody Malone, the detective who investigates Angels.

RIVER: Badly damaged.

GRAYLE: I wanted to know if it could feel pain.

RIVER: You realise it's screaming? The others can hear. Is that why you need all the locks?

(Grayle turns out the lights briefly, and the Angel grabs River's wrist.)

GRAYLE: You're going to tell me all about these creatures. And you're going to do it quickly.

(Out go the lights again.)

[Grayle's cellar]

(Rory lights a match. There is the sound of childish laughter and small feet running.)

RORY: Hello, is someone there?

(Yes, there are little cherubs closing in each time a match burns out.)

RORY: Come on, come on.

(Then one is close enough to blow the match out.)

[Grayle's study]

RIVER: The Angels are predators. They're deadly. What do you want with them?

GRAYLE: I'm a collector. What collector could resist these? I'm only human.

RIVER: That's exactly what they're thinking.

(Then all the lights go out.)

GRAYLE: What's that? What's happening? Is it an earthquake?

(The wheezing sound of a struggling Type 40 can be heard, and papers start blowing around.)

GRAYLE: What is it?

RIVER: Oh, you bad boy. You could burn New York.

GRAYLE: What does that mean?

RIVER: It means, Mister Grayle, just you wait till my husband gets home.

(The Tardis lands with a thud, knocking down Grayle and breaking the Chinese vase.)

[Tardis]

AMY: Come on!

DOCTOR: Just a moment. Final checks.

AMY: Since when?

(The Doctor checks his appearance in a brass plate that says - Type FD 12 Mk VII Rolls Royce Motors, Crewe, England.)

[Grayle's entrance hall]

(Amy runs out and up the stairs.)

AMY: Rory? Rory? Rory?

DOCTOR: Sorry I'm late, honey. Traffic was hell. Shock. He'll be fine.

[Grayle's study]

RIVER: Not if I can get loose.

DOCTOR: So where are we now, Doctor Song? How's prison?

RIVER: Oh, I was pardoned ages ago. And it's Professor Song to you.

DOCTOR: Pardoned?

RIVER: Mmm. Turns out the person I killed never existed in the first place. Apparently, there's no record of him. It's almost as if someone's gone around deleting himself from every database in the universe.

DOCTOR: You said I got too big.

RIVER: And now no one's ever heard of you. Didn't you used to be somebody?

DOCTOR: Weren't you the woman who killed the Doctor?

RIVER: Doctor who?

DOCTOR: She's holding you very tight.

RIVER: At least she didn't send me back in time.

DOCTOR: I doubt she's strong enough.

RIVER: Well, I need a hand back, so which is it going to be? Are you going to break my wrist or hers? Oh, no. Really? Why do you have to break mine?

DOCTOR: Because Amy read it in a book, and now I have no choice.

(Amy is standing in the doorway.)

DOCTOR: You see?

RIVER: What book?

DOCTOR: Your book. Which you haven't written yet, so we can't read.

RIVER: I see. I don't like the cover much.

AMY: But if River's going to write that book, she'd make it useful, yeah?

RIVER: I'll certainly try. But we can't read ahead, it's too dangerous.

AMY: I know, but there must be something we can look at.

DOCTOR: What, a page of handy hints, previews, spoiler free?

AMY: Chapter titles.

(The Doctor scans the page of chapter titles - Chapter 9, Calling the Doctor, Chapter 10, The Roman in the Cellar, Chapter 11, Death at Winter Quay.)

DOCTOR: He's in the cellar.

AMY: Gimme!

(The Doctor throws the sonic screwdriver to Amy, kisses River and starts to leave.)

RIVER: Doctor? Doctor, what is it? What's wrong? Tell me. Doctor? Doctor, what is it, tell me.

(Chapter 12 - Amelia's Last Farewell.)

RIVER: Okay, I know that face. Calm down. Calm down! Talk to me. Doctor!

DOCTOR: No! Get your wrist out. You get your wrist out without breaking it!

RIVER: How?

DOCTOR: I don't know. Just do it. Change the future!

[Grayle's cellar]

AMY: Rory?

DOCTOR: No! They're Angels. Baby Angels.

AMY: Did they get Rory? Where is he? Did they take him?

DOCTOR: Yes, I think so, yes.

(They run back up the stairs. Rory is near Winter Quay.)

[Grayle's entrance hall]

AMY: So, is this what's going to happen? We just keep chasing him and they keep pulling him further back?

RIVER: He isn't back in time. I'm reading a displacement, but there are no temporal markers. He's been moved in space, not in time, and it's not that far from here by the look of it.

DOCTOR: You got out.

AMY: So, where is he?

DOCTOR: Well, come on, come on, come on, where is he?

RIVER: If it was that easy, I'd get you to do it.

DOCTOR: How did you get your wrist out without breaking it?

RIVER: You asked, I did. Problem?

DOCTOR: You just changed the future.

RIVER: It's called marriage, honey. Now, hush, I'm working.

(River's right arm is just hanging by her side.)

DOCTOR: She's good, have you noticed? Really, really good.

RIVER: Ah, wherever it is, it's within a few blocks. There's a car out front. Shall we steal it?

DOCTOR: Show me!

(The Doctor grabs River's hand and she gasps in pain. It is broken. Meanwhile, Rory is getting into the lift at Winter Quay.)

DOCTOR; Okay, when all those numbers on both units go to zero, that's when we've got a lock, okay? It's how we find Rory.

AMY: Got it.

DOCTOR: Why did you lie to me?

RIVER: When one's in love with an ageless god who insists on the face of a twelve year old, one does one's best to hide the damage.

DOCTOR: It must hurt. Come here.

RIVER: Yes. The wrist is pretty bad too.

(The Doctor transfers golden energy to River's hand.)

RIVER: No. No. No, stop that. Stop that. Stop it!

DOCTOR: There you go. How's that?

(He kisses River's hand.)

RIVER: Well, let's see, shall we?

(She slaps his face.)

RIVER: That was a stupid waste of regeneration energy. Nothing is gained by you being a sentimental idiot.

DOCTOR: River

RIVER: No, you embarrass me.

DOCTOR: River!

(River walks outside.)

AMY: Tell you what. Stick to the science part.

[Outside Grayle's home]

AMY: Okay, why did you lie?

RIVER: Never let him see the damage. And never, ever let him see you age. He doesn't like endings.

[Grayle's entrance hall]

(Beep!)

DOCTOR: There you are.

[Outside Grayle's home]

DOCTOR: Got it. He's at a place called Winter Quay. The car, yes? Let's go.

(They drive off, watched by the mother and son statues who then notice that Grayle's front door is ajar. When he wakes up, they confront Grayle.

At Winter Quay, an apartment door opens before Rory can touch the handle, and he goes inside. There are Angels in the corridor.)

[Limousine]

RIVER: Why would they send him here? Why not zap him back in time, like they normally do?

DOCTOR: We'll know that when we know what this place is.

AMY: Winter Quay.

[Winter Quay apartments]

(Up in the lift.)

AMY: Rory?

RIVER: He's close.

AMY: Rory!

(Apartment 802)

AMY: Rory!

RORY: Amy.

RIVER: Doctor, look at this. Why is it smiling?

(The Doctor seems the nameplate by the door - R Williams.)

DOCTOR: Amy. Rory!

[Apartment 802]

DOCTOR: Get out of here! Don't look at anything. Don't touch

AMY: Who's that?

(An old man in the bed. He points at them, very 2001 A Space Odyssey.)

OLD RORY: Amy. Amy, please. Amy, please. Please.

AMY: Rory? He's you.

OLD RORY: Amy.

(Old Rory dies.)

RORY: Will someone please tell me what is going on?

DOCTOR: I'm sorry, Rory, but you just died.

(Chapter 11 Death at Winter Quay.)

DOCTOR: This place is policed by Angels. Every time you try to escape, you get zapped back in time.

AMY: So this place belongs to the Angels? They built it?

DOCTOR; Displacing someone back in time creates time energy, and that is what the Angels feed on. But normally, it's a one off, a hit and run. If they could keep hold of their victims, feed off their time energy over and over again. This place is a farm. A battery farm. How many Angels in New York?

RIVER: It's like they've taken over every statue in the city.

DOCTOR: The Angels take Manhattan because they can, because they've never had a food source like this one. The city that never sleeps. (Slow heavy footsteps outside the window.)

RORY: What was that?

DOCTOR: I don't know. But I think they're coming for you.

RORY: What does that mean? What is going to happen to me? What is physically going to happen?

DOCTOR: The Angels will come for you. They'll zap you back in time to this very spot, thirty, forty years ago. And you'll live out the rest of your life in this room, until you die in that bed.

RORY: And will Amy be there?

DOCTOR: No.

AMY: How do you know?

DOCTOR: Because he was so pleased to see you again.

RORY: Okay. Well, they haven't taken me yet. What if I just run? What if I just get the hell out of here? Then that never happens.

DOCTOR; It's already happened. Rory, you've just witnessed your own future.

RIVER: Doctor, he's right.

DOCTOR: No, he isn't.

RIVER: If Rory got out, it would create a paradox.

(Still the slow heavy footsteps.)

AMY: What is that?

RIVER: This is the Angels' food source. The paradox poisons the well. It could kill them all. This whole place would literally unhappen.

DOCTOR: It would be almost impossible.

RIVER: Loving the almost.

DOCTOR: But to create a paradox like that takes almost unimaginable power. What have we got, eh? Tell me. Come on, what?

AMY: I won't let them take him. That's what we've got.

RORY: Whatever that thing is, it's getting closer.

DOCTOR: Rory, even if you got out, you'd have to keep running for the rest of your life. They would be chasing you for ever.

AMY: Well, then. Better get started.

(She opens the apartment door. There is an Angel outside.)

AMY: Husband, run!

(Amy and Rory run past the Angels. The lights flicker.)

DOCTOR: River, I'm not sure this can work.

RIVER: Husband, shut up.

(An Angel blocks the doorway. The light flickers again and they are in the room.)

[Apartment stairwell]

(Amy and Rory run downstairs and meet Angels.)

AMY: Up!

RORY: What good's up?

AMY: Better than down!

[Apartment 802]

(The Doctor sonicks the light bulb to keep it on. He and River are surrounded by Angels.)

DOCTOR: We can't keep doing this.

RIVER: Any ideas?

DOCTOR: Yeah, the usual. Run!

(Amy and Rory make it on to the roof, where the Lady is waiting for them. The Doctor and River see the Angels on the stairs.)

DOCTOR: Okay! Fire escape.

[Winter Quay roof]

RORY: I always wanted to visit the Statue Of Liberty. I guess she got impatient.

(Rory runs to the opposite edge, behind Amy's back.)

AMY: What? What is it, what?

RORY: Just keep your eyes on that.

AMY: Is there a way down?

RORY: Er, no. But there's a way out.

(Rory climbs up onto the ledge.)

AMY: What are you doing? Rory, what are you doing?

(Amy turns around and goes to him.)

AMY: Rory, stop it. You'll die.

RORY: Yeah, twice, in the same building on the same night. Who else could do that?

AMY: Just come down, please.

RORY: This is the right thing to do. This will work. If I die now, it's a paradox, right? The paradox kills the Angels. Tell me I'm wrong. Go on, please, because I'm really scared. Oh, great. The one time you can't manage it. Amy, I'm going to need a little help here.

(Rory takes Amy's hand and puts it on his chest.)

AMY: Just stop it!

RORY: Just think it through. This will work, this will kill the Angels.

AMY: It'll kill you too.

RORY: Will it? River said that this place would be erased from time, never existed. If this place never existed, what did I fall off?

AMY: You think you'll come back to life?

RORY: When don't I?

AMY: Rory.

RORY: And anyway, what else is there? Dying of old age downstairs, never seeing you again? Amy, please. If you love me, then trust me, and push.

AMY: I can't.

RORY: You have to!

AMY: Could you? If it was me, could you do it?

RORY: To save you, I'd do anything.

(Amy gets up on the ledge next to Rory.)

AMY: Prove it.

RORY: No, I can't take you too.

AMY: You said we'd come back to life. Money where your mouth is time.

RORY: Amy, look.

AMY: Shut up. Together, or not at all.

(The Doctor and River arrive via the fire escape.)

DOCTOR: What the hell are you doing!

AMY: Changing the future. It's called marriage.

(Gazing into each others eyes, Amy and Rory fall off Winter Quay.)

DOCTOR: Amy! Amy!

(Balls of energy gather and flicker around the roof.)

RIVER: Doctor! What's happening?

DOCTOR: The paradox. It's working! The paradox is working!

(Whiteout.)

[Graveyard]

(Rory and Amy sit up.)

RORY: Where are we?

DOCTOR: Back where we started. You collapsed the timeline. The paradox worked. We all pinged back where we belong.

RORY: What, in a graveyard?

AMY: This happened the last time. Why always here?

DOCTOR: Does it matter? We got lucky. We could've blown New York off the planet. I can't ever take the Tardis back there. The timelines are too scrambled. I could have lost you both. Don't ever do that again.

RORY: What did we do? We fixed it. We solved the problem.

DOCTOR: I was talking to myself.

(The Tardis has a bit of fire extinguisher damage. River appears from behind it with a bucket of water and a rag.)

RIVER: It could do with a repaint.

DOCTOR: I've been busy.

RIVER: Does the bulb on top need changing?

DOCTOR: I just changed it.

RIVER: So. Rory and Amy, then.

DOCTOR: Yes. I know, I know.

RIVER: I'm just saying. They're going to get terribly bored hanging round here all day.

RORY: Doctor.

DOCTOR: Ha!

RORY: Look, next time, could we could just go to the pub?

DOCTOR: I want go to the pub right now. Are there video games there? I love video games.

RIVER: Right. Family outing, then.

(The Doctor and River go into the Tardis. Rory hangs back.)

RORY: Amy, come and see this.

AMY: What?

RORY: There's a gravestone here for someone with the same name as me.

AMY: What?

(Rory vanishes. There was an Angel behind him.)

AMY: Doctor!

(The Doctor and River run out of the Tardis.)

RIVER: Where the hell did that come from?

DOCTOR: It's a survivor. Very weak, but keep your eyes on it.

AMY: Where's Rory?

(The Doctor sees Rory's gravestone - aged 82.)

DOCTOR: I'm sorry. Amelia, I'm so, so sorry.

AMY: No. No, we can just go and get him in the Tardis. One more paradox.

DOCTOR: Would rip New York apart.

AMY: No, that's not true. I don't believe you.

RIVER: Mother, it's true.

DOCTOR: Amy, what are you doing?

AMY: That gravestone, Rory's, there's room for one more name, isn't there?

DOCTOR: What are you talking about? Back away from the Angel. Come back to the Tardis. We'll figure something out.

AMY: The Angel, would it send me back to the same time? To him?

DOCTOR: I don't know. Nobody knows.

AMY: But it's my best shot, yeah?

DOCTOR: No!

RIVER: Doctor, shut up. Yes. Yes, it is.

DOCTOR: Amy.

AMY: Well, then. I just have to blink, right?

DOCTOR: No!

AMY: It'll be fine. I know it will. I'll be with him, like I should be. Me and Rory together. Melody?

DOCTOR: Stop it. Just, just stop it!

(River takes Amy's hand and kisses it.)

AMY: You look after him. You be a good girl, and you look after him.

DOCTOR: You are creating fixed time. I will never be able to see you again.

AMY: I'll be fine. I'll be with him.

DOCTOR: Amy, please, just come back into the Tardis. Come along, Pond, please.

AMY: Raggedy man, goodbye!

(Amy turns her back on the Angel, and vanishes. Rory's gravestone gains more words - And His Loving Wife Amelia Williams aged 87.)

DOCTOR: No!

[Tardis]

(River is flying the Tardis while the Doctor is inconsolable.)

DOCTOR: River, they were your parents. I'm sorry, I didn't think.

RIVER: It doesn't matter.

DOCTOR: Of course it matters.

RIVER: What matters is this. Doctor, don't travel alone.

DOCTOR: Travel with me, then.

RIVER: Whenever and wherever you want. But not all the time. One psychopath per Tardis, don't you think? Okay. This book I've got to write. Melody Malone. I presume I send it to Amy to get it published?

DOCTOR: Yes. Yes.

RIVER: I'll tell her to write an afterword. For you. Maybe you'll listen to her.

(River leaves him alone.)

DOCTOR: The last page!

[Central Park]

(The picnic hamper is still there, with the last page in it. He puts on Amy's reading glasses again.)

AMY [OC]: Afterword, by Amelia Williams. Hello, old friend. And here we are, you and me, on the last page. By the time you read these words, Rory and I will be long gone. So know that we lived well, and were very happy. And above all else, know that we will love you always. Sometimes I do worry about you, though. I think once we're gone, you won't be coming back here for a while, and you might be alone, which you should never be. Don't be alone, Doctor. And do one more thing for me. There's a little girl waiting in a garden. She's going to wait a long while, so she's going to need a lot of hope. Go to her. Tell her a story. Tell her that if she's patient, the days are coming that she'll never forget. Tell her she'll go to sea and fight pirates. She'll fall in love with a man who'll wait two thousand years to keep her safe. Tell her she'll give hope to the greatest painter who ever lived and save a whale in outer space. Tell her this is the story of Amelia Pond. And this how it ends.