River and the Tin Dog

Chapter one - Trinkets

The Doctor owed her.

Big time.

She shivered in the cold as she walked down the street from her work, the small trinket in her hand. Today was supposed to be completely uneventful. Totally sane. But nooooooo.

River had been cataloging recent finds that Other Dave and Anita were bringing in. They had just come back from a pretty interesting dig. River had been looking through the box of smaller artifacts when she found it. A small, old, almost irrelivant pocket watch. Or rather, it would have been irrelivant if it wasn't for the writing on it. She recognized that writing too.

Old High Gallifreyan.

It was his all right. And now she could lose her job for swiping it from the agency. Oh well. That man was worth it. Besides, she would get her revenge.

She walked to her car, shivering in the cold night and pulling her jacket tighter around her. The report said it would start snowing tonight. River smiled at the thought. She didn't like the cold but she LOVED the snow.

She reached her cars and brought out her keys, thinking of a clever message to send him on the psycic paper. She grinned, thinking of what to wear when he popped up. It would be great to see him again, but a little teasing never hurt.

She was about to unlock her door when...

"Systems...Systems failing...Mistress?"

River nearly leapt out of her skin, startled by the mechanical voice coming from behind her. She spun around, reaching for her belt and her sonic device. It functioned as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and at it's turbulant fold, a sonic disruptor. River was quite proud of it. Especially since the Doctor only has a screwdriver.

Ha ha. She was dissing the sonic.

No one was behind her. Only an alleyway that was growing dark with the setting sun. River held her sonic device firmly in her hand, taking a causiously step forward. "Who's there?" she called, feeling foolish to be talking to something mechanical.

In her experiance, things with mechanical voices were often trouble. Though this one seemed different...

"Systems...failing." The voice came again.

River walked deeper into the alley. Her eyes adjusted and she was able to make out a dumpster with trash cans around it. Among the trash cans was what looked like some sort of robotic pet.

"I am K-9." it said, answering her question obediantly, it's red lights on it's face above his snout flashing as he talked.

River stood for a moment, confused. The robot dog looked damaged and run-down. River put her sonic back in it's place on her belt and kneeled beside it. She usually wasn't one for pets, but this one seemed different. She had never seen this model before. It had it's own charm.

"K-9." She said, putting a hand on it's head, between it's satallite-like ears. "Where's your master, K-9?"

"Master is traveling. He left me to look after mistress."

"And where is she?"

"She left." K-9 said simply.

River frowned. The poor dog had been abandoned. "Why?"

The dog paused as it's red "talk" lights and a few others blinked with calculation. "Unable to compute. Reason is unknown. Systems failing...estimated function time left: thirty seconds."

River examined the old, run-down tin dog. Poor thing wasn't in such bad shape. River figured it just needed a few new parts and a good polishing. Just some tender love and care. "How bout I take you home with me and fix you up? Would you like that?"

The tin dog's head lifted to look at River's face. She could see her reflection in the small camera lense on his eye lights. "Affirmative." it said in it's mechanical voice that somehow held emotion. It's head dropped and all function stopped.

"Good dog." River said with a smile, picking up the mechanical pet.

She liked the idea of keeping K-9. He needed someone, and so did she. It would be nice to have someone around while he was away. Especially if the one was K-9. She didn't know why, but he was different.

Looking at the tin dog as she put it in the passengers seat of her car, it reminded her of him...and she liked that.

She walked around to the driver's side and realized she was still holding the pocket watch. She nearly forgot. She put the trinket in the console beside her and pulled her psycic paper from her pocket. She sent the message before putting it beside the watch and driving off into the night.

"Found something interesting.
Please come, sweetie.
My house, quick as you can. x"