River grinned. The new girl, Clara, while being young, small and having been born in the Victorian era, was rather funny. Chatty too, almost chatty enough to out chat the Doctor at times. It was nice, meeting someone who wasn't intimidated for once.
The alcohol might have helped too.
"He's mental!" Clara cried ecstatically, clearly trying to make her point well-known, even to the passers-by in the street.
"That he is." River laughed, tipping her hair back over her shoulders. "But don't be so loud, Clara. Some people don't want to know how much of a lunatic my husband is!"
"Ya'know, he never eve' mentioned you!" At this, River decided that Clara was well and truly drunk, poor girl. "I didn't eve' known of you existed 'till you just *popped* out of nowher'."
"That sounds like him." River smiled, wrapping her arm around the brunette before she tripped.
"Where'r we goin' again?" Clara slurred some time later, tripping yet again over her own flat shoes. "
Back to the TARDIS, Dear. You need sleep, and a lot of it."
"Why? I don't wanna sleep. I'm not sleepy"
"Because you're drunk, Clara." River huffed, pulling her into her side and keeping her upright.
Eventually they made it back to the TARDIS and as River pulled her key from the chain around her neck, pausing momentarily to gently caress the ring beside it, when a gentle pawing against her leg stopped her. Leaving Clara propped up against the TARDIS, River bent down to look at her tiny attacker, a fluffy tabby cat-like animal, as it pawed at her ankle, leaving small red lines in pale skin.
"Hello you." River cooed, rubbing her thumb and index finger together to lure the creature forward. It moved closer slowly, then in a sudden show of courage, pushed its nose against River's palm. "Well, you're a good girl, aren't you?" River giggled, stroking it's head gently and the cat-thing looked up to glare at her, as if saying: Who are you calling 'Girl'?
"Sorry!" She grinned. The creature lent back on its hunches , then sprang; The small ball of fluff curled itself around her neck, under her curls and purred.
With a shrug of her head, she pulled her key from under her shirt and unlocked the doors.
The Doctor was behind them, under the console, fixing wires that probably didn't need to be fixed.
"Hello Honey," He smiled, putting the goggles to the side and standing, before he spotted Clara.
She pointed at him.
"You two flirt faw to much!' She slurred, grinning, pointing between the Time-Lords, nearly smacking the Doctor in the face. "Did ya eve' 'ave a honeymoon? 'Cause ya need one. Flirts." and with that, she collapsed.
"What did you do to her?" the Doctor squeaked, pulling Clara's arm out of River's grip and picking her up swiftly. Once he her securely, he began the quick accent of the stairs to her room at the top. "
Me?" River snapped after him. "Why is it my fault if she can't hold her alcohol? At least I brought her back!" Silence greeted her and she huffed, falling back into the seats behind her, snuggling into the band of fluff under her hair and closing her eyes briefly.
"What's that?"
River's eyes flew open and she blunk.
When had the Doctor come back into the room?
When had he shed his tweed?
And when had her 'pillow' moved to her lap?
"Umm... what?" She asked, attempting to make sence of the blankness in her mind.
"What's on your lap? Is that a tellifluffic?" He asked, pulling down his shirt sleeves.
God, he looked delicious; His hair was a mess, obviously a result of someone repeatedly running their hand through it, something she knew simply because she'd been the cause of it many a time; He'd removed the tweed jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeves to his elbow, showing thin wrists, long fingers and pale skin.
So very beautifully...
"River!"
"What?" She snapped, looking up.
He was staring at her, hazel eyes somewhere between worried and amused. Her beautiful Doctor.
"You alright?" He asked, ignoring the 'cat' and sitting beside her. The small red ball of fluff moved then, to curl up on his lap, purring.
River suddenly missed the heat of the tiny body.
The Doctor however ignored the animal, instead choosing to push her curls away from her face gently and scan her quickly with his sonic screwdriver. Once content with the result, he took her hands, staring at the left for a heartbeat, then gripping her tightly.
"You fell asleep," he stated, "I can't remember the last time you did that." River raised an eyebrow.
"You don't remember the last time I slept?" She repeated slowly. Her falling asleep on the TARDIS was not a uncomon sight, with the amount of running they did.
"I don't remember the last time you fell asleep in here." he waved towards the control room of the TARDIS as he spoke, and he had a point, the last time she had fallen asleep in the control room was years ago for her, back in her first month of StormCage but... well She blamed him for that. "Just sleepy, I guess." She frowned, then gestured to the creature on his lap
"What did you call him?"
"He's a Telliflufic!" The Doctor laughed, now scratching the so called Telliflufic behind the ear, who leaned into his hand and purred. "Where did you find him?" he asked and his voice became very high-pitched, like it normally did when he was curious and excited.
River rolled her eyes.
"He was outside the TARDIS. He started pawing my leg, See?" The blonde lent down, pulling the hem of her dress up to revile the red scratch marks the Tellifluffic's claws had made had actually been the beginning of lots of little cuts.
The leg, foot, shoe and floor below them was red with her blood.
The Doctor glanced down quickly, and rolled his eyes. then the hand that wasn't stroking the 'cat' went to his inside pocket, pulling out a tube with alien wrighting on it. A healing cream. She'd seen it before, even had a tube in StormCage, by his request ("The amount of fights you get into, How can you not expect me to have a heart-attack? You'd worry me to death!") . He handed it over, and started playing with her curls as she rubbed the cream into the cuts.
"Not surprising really, with what he is. Tellifluffics where know among the Time-Lords because they can sence time energy, it's like cat-nip to them really, they love the stuff. And you, my Dear, are flooded with it. Not as much as me thought, you're still half human, I blame your parents for that.
But he does seem to like you thought, he stayed on your lap the whole time I was in here while you slept..." He trailed off, probably (defiantly) trying to come up with a scientific explanation for this,
"Well," River teased, "You know how irresistible I am!" He laughed, leaning over to kiss her nose.
"Of course, very irresistible." The cat moved, curling across her chest, purring gently. The Doctor laughed softy and scratched the creature behind the ears, before he moved to the other side of the console to fiddle with something.
River brushed red painted fingernails through the cat's fur.
"I really wish I could keep you, you know that?" She told him. It was only a whisper under her breath but the Doctor raised his head, listening intensively to her confession.
"But I'm not allowed pets in StormCage and I don't own a house. Even if I did, I couldn't keep you then. That wouldn't be fair, to leave you all alone, even if you could feed yourself, and you can't stay here, I dread to think of what would happen to you if I left you alone with The Doctor." she laughed as looked up to see her husband pout at her. He could be such a child inside at times.
"You have to go back." she told the animal. "To wherever it was you came from." she sighed, leaning her head against the back of the seat, her eyes closed. "Shame really, I could use someone like you. Someone who will always know me, you know?"
She seemed to have slipped into a world of her own, completely forgetting that the Doctor was on the opposite side of the console. Well, he had been on the opposite side of the console, he was now right in front of River, watching her closely.
"You alright?"
"Yeah, sure."
She smiled tightly and stood, the cat darting to her shoulders. She quickly began fiddling with the console ignoring her surroundings.
"Your hair is very fluffy!" The voice came after several minutes of silence, and despite the voice sounding nothing like the Doctor's, he was the only male in the TARDIS, so River came to the conclusion that he was trying out ventriloquism or something equally as stupid.
"I thought that was rather obvious, don't you, Sweetie?" She huffed, knowing she was indulging him in the answer, but she was in no mood to entertain anyone, let alone someone as mad as the Doctor.
"What's obvious, Love?" he asked, popping his head around the console to look at her with that incredibly sexy smile. God, River, stop it, now!
"That my hair is fluffy. I just thought it was a bit obvious, Honey, even for you." she said.
"Um, yes, it is rather fluffy. Obviously. Why are you bringing it up?" He was looking at her as if she was the mad one, not him.
"I'm not." She laughed, rolling her eyes at his forgetfulness. "You did."
"No. I'm sure you did."
"Right, Okay. Whatever."
"Very fluffy. It tiggles my nose."
"Okay Doctor, stop it. I can hear you. I'm not stupid. " She snapped, looking back up at him, eyes narrowed. "I'm not in the mood to play games."
"Hear you? River, I'm not talking." The Doctor stepped towards her hesitantly, as if he was scared of her, or scared for her.
"Yes, you where. You said my hair was fluffy!" She glared at him, fingers coming up to stroke the cat.
His eyes followed her fingers, and he laughed.
And laughed. And laughed.
The minutes drew long, and he was still laughing, and by now River was board of being his source of entertainment and gave up being patient.
"Okay, what's funny?" She huffed, crossing her arms.
This only made him laugh harder.
"Doctor! Tell me you flop haired wuss. Or I sware I'll destroy every bow-tie you own."
That stopped him.
"River, 'TELLIfluffic' they're telepathic! It's in the name, You daft thing." River blinked in surprise letting the insult slip, then she grinned, leaning on the rail. She spoke directly to the animal.
"A telepathic cat? Now I really wish I could keep you." The TARDIS shuddered and hummed.
"StormCage." The Doctor huffed, "Do you have to go?" he walked towards her, wrapping her in a hug.
"Of course I do. But can I trust you to take him back to where he belongs?" she inhaled against his neck, breathing in time and some strange yet addictive spice. She moved his free hand to the cat around her own neck, who started purring. "Course I will." With a gentle tug, the Tellifluffic releasted her neck and curled around his arm. And with that, a fake smile and a click, the blue doors closed behind her.
And she waited...
The wardrobe was freezing , ninety-nine percent of the time, but after several months of it, it was something River was used to. She glanced in the mirror hung on the wall opposite her. She'd put on weight, she noted with a smile. Finally! She could go back to wearing tight dresses without people being able to count her ribs from a mile away. Stormcage was hell on the figure.
The lights flashed quickly: Off. On. Off. On. The door bell alarm. She pulled her robe tight around the waist as she pulled the wardrobe door closed behind her, rubbing the spots from her eyes. When she had realised that she couldn't hear the door bell from her 'secret' wardrobe, she'd had the alarm installed but it still didn't agree with her eyes.
She pulled the door open and gasped at the sight. The small ginger cat-like creature stared back at her with big yellow eyes.
She picked up the cat and held him close, the memorys of the painful times resurfacing, the silence, the angels, her parents. She inhaled, he smelt of time and cat and... the Doctor.
"You asked me to take him to where he belongs." said the voice she knew almost as well as her own, if not better. The Doctor leant against their door frame, smiling slightly "So I did!" River rolled her eyes at the almost cheesy comment but smiled happily; This Doctor knew Clara, knew her and knew them.
So he stole her cat.
"But I told you, I can't keep him!" she huffed.
"Why not?" he asked "you said you couldn't keep him because of StomCage and because you don't trust me." He pouted then, "But how is that a problem now? You're not in Stormcage. He can look after himself for the few hours you work and he'll get all the attention he needs when you get home. If you come with me, you can fly her home, so you can get back here at the right time. Or he can come and wait for us in the TARDIS. He'd have to stay out of the bedroom, of course, there's only so much cat fluff a guy can take, you know. Not that I'd end up breathing it in, your hair is to big an insulator for that. But I'm getting distracted again, because the point is: you can make it work River. We can make it work. You can trust me. But he needs you River. And you need him." He inhaled deeply "He can keep you company when I'm to young, stupid and idiotic to do so. Because look at him River, he's only known you a few hours and he already loves you. Possibly almost as much as I do."
"Well, how can I kick you two out then?" The Doctor grinned that fabulous grin of his and River smiled back.
"He'll need a name!"
"I already have one for him." River smiled "It's an old German name; convenient given how we met. by translation it means Brave. It's perfect for him."
"Oh yes? And what is this Perfect name then?" River looked at the cat purring around the neck of her lover, and they looked so pretty.
She'd draw it later.
She smiled.
"Bernard."
I don't normaly do this but:
There are refrenses in this one to two of my other stories... one I've published the other I haven't... but I will! Promise.
I'm not sure if I like this one... but someone might.
The name is an inside joke for me and a mate... Megamind related... if you know it or spot the refrence, thumbs up!
thanks for reading my mindless drabbles.