Hello sweeties, I have something new and that hopefully doesn't suck. It's my first fic with the Twelfth Doctor, so I'm a bit nervous. I started this back in April 2014 and finally got around to finishing this first part. I self edited the second scene so...sorry, cause I suck at it.

Hope you and enjoy and let me know what cha think.

"Unable are the loved to die. For love is immortality." – Emily Dickinson

Love Unchanged
_)(_

"Okay, when you said parks and gardens, you meant parks" Clara gazed, wide eyed at the scenery, spread out below. "And a whooole lot of gardens. "

There was every type of garden she could imagine, and some beyond her. Flowing smoothly into each other, regardless of manner or type. Terran and alien plants alike; blooms, fruits, and vegetables all carefully blended. Hidden among parks, arboretums, restaurants, and museums.

She had seen nebulas, morphing stars, and countless other beautiful places, yet this had to rank high on the list. The distance from the observation deck didn't take anything away from the view that stunned her with its complexity.

The Doctor had parked the TARDIS near the deck, part of a mountain trail that seemed to wind upward for miles. He came to stand beside her, gazing out at the scenery for a moment, then bent to the side to look at her, "Your eyes are doing that thing again. " He stated, annoyance lacing his voice.

Clara rolled her eyes, not bothering to respond to it.

"So, here we are. The two of us standing around on a mountain looking down at a really… gorgeous view." She waited a few beats for him to do something, give an explanation; he didn't, which was not entirely unexpected. She turned towards him, a hand on her hip.

"Okay, spit it out. You were talking about taking me to see the Eternal Cat-eyed walk ways, or whatever, and the next thing I know you brought us here."

She held up a finger to prevent him from replying just yet, "and you…" She gestured at him, "this you, doesn't babble but you were and about this place, as if you were doing something you shouldn't."

"It's just a pit stop, Clara." He shrugged, avoiding her eyes. That alone told her the Doctor was guilty of something. This version of him seemed to enjoy getting a rise out of her so the fact he felt the need to avoid it bugged her.

Clara sucked on the inside of her cheek, biting the tip of her finger. It was so hard to ignore her curiosity sometimes. She wasn't sure she should indulge it with the Doctor though, not in the way she use to. Oh, who was she kidding? She was a sucker for punishment apparently.

"Really, a pit stop? Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"

He turned to look at her finally. "You can believe what you like." His gaze returned to the maze of gardens below and Clara was certain she saw confusion flash in his eyes. "I am going to go for a walk, you can join me if you wish." He added, spinning on his heels and heading down the trail.

Clara sighed, watching him walk away before giving in and catching up to him. There was something in his shoulders that reminded her of how he use to be. When he was the old man with a young face and child like exuberance.

They walked down the path in silence. For the most part it was nice, beautiful would be a more accurate term. The landscape around them was just as breathtaking as the view they had from the observation deck. Here, however, it seemed as if it was allowed to be untidy in the way a field of wild flowers might be. The path was clear, but around it there was delightful disorder.

Clara would have appreciated it a lot more if her concern wasn't growing with each minute of him quietly walking beside her. Even this extreme eye-browed version of him took pleasure out of showing off, telling her every fact he knew about a place. He should have been sharing unlikely stories about the local flora.

"You going to tell me where we are and its history? Or do I need to make up my own facts? " She asked teasingly, hoping to break the spell he was apparently under.

The Doctor startled and gave her a sideways glare for it. "Not much to tell. Maricanore, a human colony. Who, to their immense delight, discovered how fertile the soil was. For the average tourist there are cities like this one, the capital, with the same style. Outside the cities and gardens lay farms with fields that go on for miles. The biggest source of produce for human and like wise, and for nearly four centuries." He droned out, none of his typical ego driven performance involved.

Clara frowned, "Okay, but we're not here for produce or a pit stop, so what is going on?"

He stopped and stared off into space before turning to look at, "I don't know why."

"You don't know why we're here? Meaning you didn't take us here on purpose?" At his nod, a confused frown filled her face, "you bring us places all the time without meaning to. Doctor, what is going on? "

They had resumed walking and he took his time answering. Clara could tell by his stiff shoulders that he was going to reply, it needed time to work it's way up. He'd not been like that for a long time, it only added to her concern.

The trail winded down until they were at a lower observation point. It had also became obvious by the lack of path and the sudden sheer drop that the transit tube, at the far end further in, was the only means to get down.

Clara followed the Doctor to the end of the observation landing. This one was made of some sort of wood rather than a natural part of the mountain face. They stopped to lean against the railing.

The view down was closer than the previous one but still a fair good ways away.

The Doctor leaned his elbows on the rail and hung his head. "This is no simple accident Clara, this location in this time frame is… a no go zone. Yet the TARDIS brought us here anyway." He looked at her and raised his brows and a forced small smile, "Want to find out why? "

Clara gave the same smile before realizing it. She shook her head, "Only if you tell me why you were acting guilty and skittish when we first got here."

He stood up all the way, looking at her with a mix of annoyance and gratitude. "Gardening competitions. I use to judge, I have enemies al -"

"Doctor, don't lie. Just tell me why!"

He took a deep breath and glanced down at his feet before answering. "There is a lot of memories here -" He swallowed heavily, closing his eyes with a slight shake of his head. "Wonderful times from when I was a different man."

Clara didn't know what to say. She had a feeling he meant the little family he had with his Ponds. She couldn't remember every detail that she seen in his timeline, but she did have vague memories of picnics with Amy and Rory in a place like this.

"Okay, we'll" she wanted to take his hand but knew he wouldn't like it so she put her hands together, finger's twisting around each other. "Just have to make this quick, won't we. "

"Quick?" He looked at her incredulously while they walked over to one of the transit tubes.

"Yeah, you're right, these trips are never quick." Clara followed him in and frowned at the odd interface with a map, symbols, and nothing recognizable as a panel with levels.

The Doctor gave a slight roll of his eyes at her, "it's voice activated." He spoke into speaker by the door. "Ground level, zone blue, acorn entrance."

The transit tube began to move and silence descended on them. The Doctor seemed content to enjoy the little tourism video that played on the wall at the back of the tube. It explained the history of the area, places to see and things to do. It was impressive but Clara's thoughts were more on the Doctor and why they were there when they weren't supposed to be.

Unable to help herself she interrupted the video. "So, you going to explain why this is a 'no go zone' exactly? Cause you've taken me to places you've been before."

"It's different." He refused to look at her.

"What exactly is the issue? Is this somewhere from my future?"

"You know that wasn't a lie, the garden competitions." The Doctor remarked as he stared at her in the way he favoured lately, like she had grown a third head.

Ignoring the stare Clara giggled "You actually have enemies from judging veggies and flowers? Who has enemies from looking at overly large cucumbers?"

"Gardening is a serious sport Clara, especially here. Hmm, actually it's the mob that you have to watch out for here. Depending on the century." He shrugged, looking guilty in Clara's opinion.

"A mob, there's a mob here? Oh that's priceless!" She clapped and grinned at him, then her mouth dropped open as a thought hit her. " Wait… do you owe them?"

"No, Clara I don't owe them."

The transit tube stopped and the doors opened with a ding. They stepped out and started down a path to the acorn entrance that led into the city of gardens, restaurants, and museums.

"It was a misunderstanding, wasn't it?" She asked smiling up at him.

"Clara, I've never had dealings with the mob."

"It was! Okay, hmm… " Teasing him was hard to resist when he wasn't as easy to get going like he had been before.

The Doctor's stare in return said a lot more then his usual string of shut ups. Clara felt an odd tension radiating off him the closer they came to the arch that was literally decorated with an acorn theme.

Changing the subject seemed like the best way to handle him, "Okay, Don Eyebrows, show me ya town."

The Doctor gave her a faint smile before indicating the city they were walking into. "Lahsinvat, the city of gardens. No where else in the whole of the three galaxies can you find so many and of such variety. There are even universities here specifically for agriculture and botanical sciences."

"I'm impressed. What, though, are the museums for? They just seem out of place." Clara replied, her eyes taking in the architecture of the buildings that sat literally in the middle of gardens. Some were designed, it seemed, to blend in, like a natural part of the flora and foliage around them.

"Museums for everything, the variety helps draw visitors. As expected, " he added with a touch of disdain in his voice, "They are generally wrong, if not completely."

Clara took his arm and hid a smile into his shoulder, listening quietly as he continued to give her a history lesson. She would have felt relieved at the return to his usual self. Only he wasn't, he sounded like it, but the tension in his frame and the way his eyes scanned every building, told a different story.

They walked for a while passing various gardens, visiting a few others, each just as elaborate and unique as the one before. The scents in the air were like perfumes, only without the intensity of chemicals mixed in to bother the throat. Though Clara supposed allergens would be high and later she was likely to regret this.

After several quick strolls through a few of the tourist attractions, they opted to eat a restaurant shrouded in jungle like plants. The Doctor's frame had relaxed over dinner, not completely, just enough that it startled Clara when the tension came back and climbed.

She felt it increase about ten fold when they turned a corner that led to a street with a number of museums. The Doctor wore an expression like he was about to walk into a trap with all his worst nightmares. It unnerved her and right as she was about to suggest they leave and not worry about why the TARDIS brought them, he stopped.

It was as if he stopped breathing he was so still, and he stared with an expression on that face she'd never seen before. It seemed happy and sad at the same time, something he complained about her doing.

Following his line of sight she saw a museum of rare natural art and a few people standing in front of it, some talking and a woman with a mass of curls glancing back and forth from a book to the museum.

Clara didn't understand what had the Doctor out of sorts till the curly haired woman turned around, her face now visible to them. Clara gasped with understanding and the Doctor took a step forward.

"Oh...of course " He whispered in both awe and agony. "River… "

They watched as she put the book back in a bag that sat at her feet before heading into the building. The Doctor took another step closer to his wife but then growled and turned around.

He looked agitated and torn. She felt the same, though for an entirely different reason. "Doctor, is she why we're here? Should… does…Is she going to need our help?"

"I don't know." He stated, looking tired. "Clara I need to go, we need to go."

"Yeah, though shouldn't we wait and see? I thought -"

"Shut up and get me out of here! I can not risk staying, risk her… get me out of here now Clara! "

His plea was uncharacteristically close to begging, so she did the only thing she could. She guided, pulled him away and held his hand as they made their way back to the TARDIS. Clara relished in the feel of his hand around hers, having missed it, and was saddened by the forlorn expression on his face.

_)(_

He had gone in and straight for the books, pushing in a large volume titled the Encyclopedia of Universal Carpet Fibers. There was a low hiss as it moved back, and a shelf unit slide inward, revealing a fairly large portion of the TARDIS library that he preferred wasn't on hand to just anyone. His idiotic mistake that led to Clara finding the book, History of the Time War, was a reminder.

Clara followed him in and stood at the entryway as he moved further in, and began pulling books off the shelves and onto a table. He ignored her presence and brushed aside the turmoil inside.

For some reason he'd believed, no... convinced himself, that if he ever saw River again he'd be fine. That the difference between this personality and his last would be enough to turn the love to fondness and he wouldn't hurt nearly as much.

Sometimes a regeneration of one or both parties in a Time Lord marriage changed the dynamic, made them incompatible and the union was dissolved. It was normal enough and rarely a problem.

Of course it would be different for him.

The Doctor had taken one look at River Song's face and felt everything he had hoped he wouldn't. That woman owned his hearts and now he was left with impossible choices and equally dangerous temptations.

He knew the TARDIS wouldn't have brought him there without a reason. So did he choose to stay and be tormented by her presence and would he be able to withstand the temptation to change everything to somehow keep her?

A snarl exploded out of him, startling himself and his companion that he knew was staring at him in worry.

"Doctor," Clara began as he started flipping through the incredibly large volume he had pulled out moments earlier. "What are you doing?"

"Searching."

"Yeah. Okay, but for what? "

"Another way." His clipped, an obstinately vague reply.

"Doctor, another way for what? I really don't understand." She had come all the way in to face him. Leaning somewhat over the table to try and find out what he was looking at.

It was an impossible task considering he was speed reading, he just wanted to get this done.

To find an alternative to deal with what he was sure was about to happen. So far nothing was popping off the pages to aid him, a far fetched idea that would have allowed him to avoid her all together. He had a feeling the TARDIS had no intention of him avoiding.

He picked up a much smaller book and found a passage that offered up details about the museum he hadn't been aware of, yet again nothing to actually help him. The Doctor huffed and tossed it to the side, absently knowing he'd be annoyed by his book abuse later.

There had to be something. Something to get him out of this mess, help him help River without having to see her. The problem of course being he had no bloody idea what it was she intended to steal. He didn't really care why, only that if the TARDIS brought him there, it meant she was going to run into trouble.

Clara hovered, driving him mental with her goggling eyes. "Stop that " he growled in warning.

Ignoring him, she watched as he scooped up more books to search through. "Doctor, if you would just tell me what you're searching for I can -"

"Another way." He looked up at her, annoyed. "If I can find something. I can help her without ever having to see her."

"Help her how?"

He shot her a glare, "What is this? Pop quiz hour? "

"I'm only trying to help."

"Well, you're not." He saw the dismay on her face from the corner of his eye. He threw her a bone.

"Fine, she's going to steal something. If I figure out what, exactly, then I can clear the way and she wouldn't know."

Though the odds were she would figure it out, and it would result in one of those times she had been pretty irate with his past self.

"I see."

How did she see? Because he wasn't certain he did.

"We never properly talked about her. I've bits and pieces in my head, and yet? " She picked up a book and glanced through it, trying to find the best way to continue. "I know she died saving you, that you saved her to a library and she was a... a psychopath sent to kill you."

"No! No."

"No? Which part? "

"She wasn't a psychopath, that's not who she was."

"Doctor, I'm confused. The church lady, Tasha, said she was and what little I rememb -"

He shook his head, "Yes, she was at first! All teeth and a deadly kiss, but it wasn't who she was. By the end of her life she was... nothing close." He had always hated the way others saw her, how she saw herself.

Amy and Rory were different, they not only learned to love a grown version of the baby they lost, they saw her for who she really was, brilliant, and amazing. Not a killer and psychotic with no emotions, a weapon with no care or compassion inside of her.

"The older she became, the more freedom she had from her demons and the less of a resemblance to a psychopath she had. Now, Tasha Lem, she was a psychopath." That was a truth he didn't have time to go into. Saying it out loud and defending River, however, felt good.

"River just thought she was, others thought she was. But no, River was simply, or rather not so simply, a mad woman who'd break out of a high security prison just to get herself some ice cream. A spaceship diving and snog happy space vixen. "

"Snog happy?"

"Oh, she enjoyed a good kiss. Favorite weapon I think."

"A weapon? She kissed people as a weapon? Ok, why?"

"Because it was effective." He glanced at her incredulously. "Why else?"

Clara gave him the 'You have three heads' look he normally reserved for her. "Why do conversation's with you always inevitably end up with me completely confused, and or ready to punch you out of frustration? "

It was clearly a rhetorical question, but he almost responded out of spite. He opted instead to pick up another big volume and flip through it, reminded of why they had that conversation in the first place.

"So you're not going to explain why she used kissing as a weapon?"

He glanced up at her noting the way she was watching him. Yeah, he pushed all her buttons but the foolish girl still cared. Friendship was a funny thing.

"Nope."

"Okay, going to explain what you're doing?"

"No."

She sighed, likely on the verge of punching him. If honest he'd punch him too. "Doctor, I want to help but I can't if you keep doing this. You don't talk other than to give me bursts of confusing information that leads to more questions or you do things without explanation so I stand here clueless while you need help. "

He stopped. "Clara, I don't need help."

She place a hand on her hip and retorted, "Not even when you plead for me to pull you away?"

She fought dirty, women were foul cheating and infuriating creatures the lot of them. Annoyed and unable to counter that The Doctor changed subjects. "River liked her guns, but enjoyed deploying less violent ways of getting out of a sticky situation or because she wanted to leave one of the most secure prisons. Sometimes simply to snog someone. She knew it drove me crazy. "

"You were jealous?" She found it difficult to picture him jealous.

He glanced at her a second, "No!"

"No?"

"Well, sometimes, alright... " He admitted, like she had twisted his arm," She was mine... as neanderthal as it was, she was mine. I didn't mind so much when she did to get out of a situation. But just because? Oh yes...you can bet your big doe eyes I hated that."

Clara had so many things she wanted to say about that side of him. But concern won over teasing, mostly. "You do realize you explained the kissing thing."

His response was to slam the volume he'd been flipping through, practically sneering at her before he picked up another. "If you're just going to stand there and look stupid, at least shut up."

Sometimes he wasn't an alien with 2,000 plus years of wisdom and experience under his belt, but a demanding, rude, and temperamental child. Ignoring said rudeness Clara gave a long suffering sigh.

"Shutting up isn't going to happen till you tell me what I can do."

He scowled at the book in front of him. His eyebrows of perpetual anger drew together as if they could meld into one. The constant rapid flipping of pages stilled, his long slender fingers twitched like he was in a battle on whether to flip the page or stay on it.

Clara knew the struggle was with letting go of what was likely a pointless search, yet it felt like more.

"Doctor?" A softly spoken plea that went straight to his chest.

Women. Infuriating? Yes. Cheat you out of sanity? Yes. Dig right down to the pain buried deep in your hearts and pull it up to the surface? In a heartbeat. Oh, but he loved them. He loved them for those things and so much more.

Someone had once remarked he preferred their company because they were pretty and youthful. Likely a man.

An idiot, king of pudding brains. Displaying perfectly why he loved women. They shined like diamonds, brilliant in ways he could never be and far superior to their male counterparts. River Song being one of the most beautiful multifaceted cuts he'd ever had the privilege to behold.

He sighed and looked at Clara. The young woman, with her nagging and teaching and being a general pain in his arse, wasn't a particularly shabby jewel to have around either. Not that he'd ever admit it, given it would go straight to her already massive ego, but he'd be lost without her.

"Doctor, is there anything I could do? I don't mind."

He sighed, rolling his eye's at himself and allow the book fall shut. "No. If there is something that needs to be done, it's by me."

There was such a sadness to him, a sort of worry that made him uncharacteristically twitchy. It elicited a need to do something, anything, and that likely meant more arguing. He was such hard work.

"Alright, I believe this is long over due." She took his hand and tugged him along. Pleasantly surprised he was cooperating. "Come on, talk to me."

Clara lead them to the stairs they had used for several other serious talks. This time she wouldn't let him evade the subject of his wife. She sat and watched as he followed suit, throwing her his customary scowl for her bossiness.

"Seeing that we're here and she is and something is obviously up -"

"Obviously."

She ignored his derisive tone. " I think you should talk about her. "

He turned slowly to stare at her, "and this helps how?"

"Really? I think you know exactly how it might help. I just don't think you want to deal with it."

It really galled that sometimes she hit the hammer right on the nail.

"You're right. I don't, this isn't supposed to happen." He glowered at her "People don't grieve their loved ones, say goodbye and then see them again years later because their TARDIS decides to ignore the bloody rules!"

The Doctor looked away with a huff. If anything he was just a bit pissed off. Okay, alright, he was a whole lot of pissed off. He had come to terms with her loss, did the widower thing a long time ago. Had even let himself think about her, mention her. So then where was it written he had to put up with this?

Clara let him have a moment. It was true, it wasn't something people had to deal with normally. Yet, since he had to, talking about her might give an out, to all of it.

"It isn't fair. Still, I think talking might help."

The Doctor snorted and stared down at his hands. Appreciating the reason Clara was insisting but really wishing she'd vanish as well. Of course, he thought, there was the option to take her home. Or send her off to fetch coffee and disappear.

He shook his head, slightly. That wouldn't work, Clara wouldn't fall for it, and it would only leave him alone to deal with this mess. Besides, he had a nagging feeling the TARDIS would just bring him right back, if she even allowed him to leave in the first place.

Resigned, he turned to Clara, "So teach, what do you want to know? "

That was a loaded question. Clara mulled it over, putting all her curiosity over River aside, what was best for him?

"Honestly, everything. I've met her once and she was dead. " She paused and rolled her eyes. " I go through some of the weirdest things because of you. "

"Hmm, you signed on."

"And you still don't pay me. Seriously, even though I would like to know more about her. I feel you need to talk, about her, for you. And if that means discussing why she'd have been stealing in the first place, or what she could possibly be even interested in from a museum of art. Or we can, I suppose, talk about her eyes."

She didn't have to wait long for a reply. Delivered like answering promptly would make it all easier.

"First could be for all sorts of reasons. She had itchy fingers sometimes. " He shrugged, " I can hardly judge, time heists and so forth." He vaguely twirled fingers in the air as if to dismiss his own history of itchy fingers.

" For the second, no idea. She wouldn't break out of prison to come here for a museum heist unless something or somebody was in jeopardy."

Clara wasn't sure if they had made progress. He answered the impersonal and avoided the other, as usual.

"She was a bloody endless tease." He abruptly spat out startling her.

"What?"

He shook his head, turning to her with a frustrated scowl. "You're the one who asked about her eyes!"

"Yes, I did bu-"

"It wasn't just her lips or words. It was her eyes, they were just as much a tease as she was. Green with gold flecks but sometime just to torment, I swear she'd turn them blue." He threw his hands up "would leave me wondering if I ever knew the color to begin with. You know, at one time I actually questioned my senility over those eyes?! Bloody woman."

"You've been holding that in a while haven't you?"

"Yes, well." His lips twisted up into the faintest mock smile. "Just be grateful I did. My former face would have used 'nebulous green with specks of sun' or some other... nonsense to describe her eyes. "

"Somehow," she laughed. "I don't think 'nonsense' is the word you used in your head."

"You can shut up miss potty mouth."

Clara shook her head, caught between annoyed and amused. "Oh no! We're not starting that again! I don't use language like that normally so it doesn't count." He knew very well that she bad been under the influence of alien smoke, and he was to blame.

"Sorry, I forgot whose ego I was up against. "

"Yeah, I can imagine it's easy to forget when faced with your own sizable superiority. " Clara barely contained her grin.

He looked over at her. Not annoyed or with some sort of frown or scowl. But genuine mild impressed amusement.

"Now who's been waiting to get something out?"

She only looked at him and smiled.

The ranting and laughter had the unplanned consequence of relaxing him enough to where he wasn't sitting next to her like he had a rod shoved up his prickly rear end. They sat in a kind of pleasant companionable silence, one Clara wasn't going to rush.

The relaxed silence sobered him, it always did. It was in sitting in silence, he remembered days long ago and felt the ache of it. When Clara wasn't around, if he didn't just jump ahead, he tinkered and mused. He only sat still if it meant meditation, because otherwise the enormity of his mistakes and losses started to smother him.

River took up a sizeable part of those moments. He missed being haunted properly, at least there had been her voice along with the guilt.

"She could pull trust from me even when I didn't want to give it, when I thought shouldn't. " The Doctor stared at the doors, if he was going to confess anything he couldn't to Clara's face. "And she...River was mad, properly ...brilliantly mad."

As with any time he thought of her, of their time together, he felt his hearts beat a painful and exhilarating tattoo. He could live for another two thousand years and never understand how she managed to get under his skin, how she became as vital as breathing. He knew with equal measure that he could exist for eternity and still love her as much as he did the first day he finally let himself accept it.

That day, that moment, was perhaps the first time he had ever felt truly alive.

"She was unpredictable and defiant of explanation." The Doctor continued, recalling with a clarity he hadn't had in years. "Egyptian queen impersonations, diving from ships and buildings, shooting hats, breaking out of prison to 'accidently run into' me at a Paris cafe in 2132, and oh, that woman... "

Clara smiled and swallowed away the feelings his admission was stirring up. Especially the way he said 'woman', like it was both a curse for leaving him and an endearment for every magical moment spent with her flowing from that one word.

"...That woman she could dance. Dance circles around me. "

He looked down with an ache in his chest. "And as cliche as it sounds she made me better. "

Clara was tempted to hug him, but placed her hand over his instead, unsure of what to say.

When the quiet between them became a bit too heavy to bear, he stood, made his way around the controls, stopped short by a question he knew was asked simply to hear him say the answer out loud.

"Did you love her? "

The Doctor turned around to Clara. Took her in, the unwavering determination to help him that swam in her eyes.

He wanted to say it. But if he did, if he stated it plain as day it made it that much heavier. Everything she was, everything they were, all they could have been, all they lost.

"What do you think?" He sighed. " Clara, the man I was before, do you believe he could? From what you remember?"

He wondered if she could think that of him, though she wasn't sure if he was a good man.

Clara put a hand to her lips, tilted her head to the side. "Yes, I believe he did."

"Don't do that, " he warned, seeing the teary compassion brimming in her eyes. "Don't you start that!"

She held up her hands to placate him. "I know you can't say it but I think you still love her."

"That's the problem." He began quietly. " I thought that if for some ridiculous reason I ever ran into her, I wouldn't feel the same, at least not so acutely. But it's all there, I took one look at her and every last bit of it is still there. "

He sighed at his confession and the weariness of it all. "Love, I'm far too old for the nonsense."

The words were only just out of his mouth when the TARDIS doors burst open and in a hazy aura of light, there she stood. A vision, a memory, a reality all rolled into one. His hearts tripped and his throat ran dry. A familiar scent of trouble with curls to defy explanation, and teasing eyes that found his quickly.

They stared. A mutual shock, yet he felt hers was worse. One look at her face and he knew that she thought he, bow tie, had come for her. Instead a different face, a different console room. Someone she wasn't sure she knew, who came with a different set of rules.

Her gaze moved from him to Clara, to the new desktop and back to him, she winced. "Doctor?"

"River. "

"I..." There was a struggle to appear unmoved by the unexpected development. One she didn't quite pull off. It told him volumes on when she was in her time stream. Too early to have run into another of his faces, or to have perfected her mask. A mask that would become so very vital.

She won the struggle and tucked her hurt away, she tried to smile. "I may be in a tiny bit of trouble. "

"I figured you would be." She wasn't the only one pretending. The Doctor did his best to focus on her face, her eyes, because if he looked away from her he was sure his own facade would break.

River appeared uncertain how to take his response, he would have been amused in a different situation. Apparently deciding he was on the same page she began, "So you know about Jim?"

"No." One word answers, that was great. Pudding brain gaps were forming in his brain.

"Oh." She winced again.

"Are you okay?" Clara asked and he held back the incredibly rude response dancing on his tongue. Of course she wasn't, she'd come home to find her husband was literally a different man.

River turned a subdued smile on her, one he was certain contained a hint of jealousy. Daft bloody woman.

"Yes, fine. Wasn't as quick as I had hoped, grazed for it."

Her eyes returned to his like gravity. "You know, I can handle this on my own."

He frowned. "You called for me. "

"I didn't. "

Oh. Well, sure. It was only the meddling of the old girl, who loves you. By all means leave and get into trouble. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

Over his regenerating body.

"And so why did you come in here?"

"Passed you on the way."

"We're on a mountain trail." He didn't like the way she seemed to be getting paler by the minute. Would out do her mother in seconds if she kept it up.

"Took the tube when I lost them. Seen the TARDIS and..." disappointment flickered through her eyes. "Figured you knew. "

She lied with a smile, "It's ok sweetie, I'll sort this out. My goodness, I sometimes forget how messy this whole out of order thing is. I suppose I might give another you a shout, the-"

"No, you won't and I'll help."

River shook her head and gripped the rail. Somewhat bent over in obvious agony.

The Doctor started to frown in concern when Clara cried out and ran forward, it was then he saw it and his hearts stuttered.

Clara stopped River from hitting the floor and partily held up, cradling her head against her shoulder. He was beside them in two quick strides, kneeling down and lifting aside River's light tan jacket, revealing a strangely coloured wound through the hole in her top.

With a strangled sigh of fear, The Doctor cupped her face.

"River, what's going on?"

She raised her glazed-over eyes to his. "I thought it was ju-" then they rolled up into her head.

He swept her up and into his arms when her legs came out from under her.

"Of course, you did. " He glanced from his unconscious wife to his concerned companion.

"Clara, I trust you're not squeamish. "

"I'm sorry? "

"You get to play at being a nurse."

With her lying against his chest a warm tingle spread through him. Irritatingly frustrating, a faint trace of another time. He didn't have time though to ponder the sensation as he quickly carried her out of the console room.

Love, truly it was a nonsense he was too old for. Yet equally it was a heartache he could indulge, a peace he craved, and a joy he couldn't live without.

In other words; River Song.

TBC...

Kudos and Comments are cookies to a writers soul.

I am tired and likely missed something, made a typo, or knowing my luck, called someone by the wrong name. So forgive me and I'll fix as soon as i see it.

This will be updated as frequently as pain/fatigue and working on Echoes allows.