The Doctor threw open the doors of the Tardis, storming inside, with River following closely behind. The Doctor looked – and was – fraught, running his hands through his hair then fisting them as he tried to think of something, anything, that was going to help them now. His mind was racing at two thousand miles a minute, and every plan that he came up with had a glaring hole, right in the middle of it. River appeared calmer, but tired, like she had already been on the go for far too long and wasn't even halfway through the day yet.

"Well this is an exciting date," she said, following the Doctor up to the console, where he began a myriad of checks and statistics runs.

He turned to look at her, somewhat sadly, worry for her showing in his eyes as he reached to cup her arms in his hands. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Don't be sorry, my love," she said, reaching up to lay her hand on his face, her thumb stroking his cheek. "You know I wouldn't want to miss things like this."

It was true, even though they both knew – and this was what was troubling the Doctor – that either of them could die at any time, no matter what they'd seen in each other's futures. Time could be rewritten after all, and not always in a good way.

"I know," he murmured, relaxing against her hand for just a moment, before he snapped back to attention. "Right! So, what are we going to do?"

River began firing ideas of her own at him, but he dismissed each one of them almost immediately. Which she was fine with, because she knew that eventually they'd have thrown out so many non-working ideas that he'd be able to cobble something together out of them, and it would work. By the end of this quick-fire brainstorming, he was leaning his hands heavily against the console, and she had leant back on the railings surrounding it.

"I know what we need to do," the Doctor said at length.

"What?" River asked quickly.

"You're not going to like it," he warned.

"Sweetie, there are a lot of things in life that I don't like," she said patiently, open to ideas.

"We need…we could use Jack's help."

River expression instantly went cold. "You're right. I don't like it."

"River, there are only so many people who can do what we do," the Doctor said, trying to convince her. "And only a very few of them are friends with us."

"I'm not friends with him," River said pointedly, though the Doctor knew she didn't truly mean that. He looked at her with patient eyes; he knew there was only so long she could withstand that expression. "You know how good he is at messing things up even further and getting…" she searched for the right words to describe what Jack was so very good at…"Distracted."

She thought of the last time he'd been with them, all the flirting that he'd done. Distracted was putting it mildly.

"Not jealous are you?" the Doctor asked, straightening his bowtie.

"No, but maybe you should be."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked innocently, and River looked at him pointedly, waiting for the penny to drop as he went over his memories of the last time. "Last time…he…he wasn't!"

"Yes," River said in a low sing-song voice.

The Doctor's face turned an amusing shade of pink embarrassment and red anger. "Oh! He was! He was flirting with you too!"

"And how."

"Yes, well…however very not happy I am with him right now, we could still use his help," the Doctor said, getting his flustering under control.

"You're sure we couldn't do this on our own?" she asked reluctantly, and he knew he was winning.

"Yes. Well, no, maybe. But we'd have a lot better chance of getting everyone out alive if we had some more back up."

No matter how she'd been raised, River couldn't disagree when so many lives were on the line. "Fine. Shall I go get him, or do you want to go together?"

"I'd better stay here. Just in case anything earth shattering happens."

River nodded a little reluctantly, already putting the coordinates into her vortex manipulator. She looked about ready to leave when she closed the space between them and kissed him soundly. He was still taken a little by surprise when she did things like that, but he no longer faffed about as he had done before. Instead his hands found their places, one wrapping round her waist and pulling her closer as the other wound its way into her hair.

But as much as he wanted to stay like this, they didn't have time right now, so she broke away as quickly as she'd started it, both of them slightly out of breath.

She held up the vortex manipulator, ready to leave. "I'll see you in fifteen seconds, my love."

With that she was gone.

A fraction of a second later, she materialised right in the centre of the Torchwood base. As it happened, she appeared directly in front of a young Welsh woman, who promptly shouted an exclamation, dropped her phone and pulled a gun on River.

"Who the hell are you, and how did you get here?" she asked angrily.

River held up her hands. It wasn't a normal gesture for her, admittedly, but if it helped show the younger woman that she was no threat and prevented her from getting shot, then she was all for it right now.

"It's alright-"

"No it bloody well isn't," the young woman spat back, her gun still levelled at River. Her bright eyes flickered to River's wrist, where her vortex manipulator was showing. "So you got here with that. If you're a Time Agent, what are you after?"

River laughed, a strangely melodic sound rippling through the Hub, echoing off the tiles. "Oh honey, I'm not a Time Agent."

The young woman – this had to be Gwen, didn't it? – cocked her head to one side, momentarily thrown off balance by River's laugh and her reply. "No? Then the original question stands: who are you?"

At that moment there was a flash of motion at the doorway, and River's gaze flickered to see who was standing there.

"River Song," came the familiar American accent, and she watched as Jack Harkness leaned against the doorway.

"I could do with some help here, Sugar," she said, wiggling her fingers to indicate her current predicament

Jack laughed, and however tempting it was, Gwen refused to take her eyes off River for even a moment.

"You know her?" Gwen asked in surprise as Jack walked over to them.

"Yeah, don't worry, you don't need that," Jack said, pointing to the gun Gwen still had levelled at River. She lowered it, putting it somewhat reluctantly back on the desk beside her. "Gwen Cooper, meet River Song. River Song, Gwen Cooper."

River gave a bright, friendly smile and reached out a hand, which seemed to throw Gwen even more as she absently shook it.

"I'd love to stay and make friends, but I need to borrow Jack, and I'm in a bit of a rush," River said, glancing to Jack, who nodded.

"I'm coming too," Gwen said without hesitation, still not ready to trust this other woman.

"Sorry, the Doctor only asked me to bring Jack back. Time traveller business."

Gwen looked to Jack. "She knows the magical Doctor as well?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah…she's…Well, she's his wife."

Gwen's eyes just about popped, and River looked smugly at Jack.

"Glad to hear you remember that now," River said.

"Yeah, well, no guarantees that I'll remember that once I see him," Jack replied with a grin.

Gwen rolled her eyes. Apparently there was always time for flirting with Jack. River raised her eyebrows impatiently at him, and Gwen sighed, seeing that he was going to need a push. "Get out of here already then."

Jack held up his finger, dashing off to pick up his gun, coat and his own vortex manipulator from where it lay on his desk.

"Turn that thing off if you have to bring it!" River called over to him, and he waved dismissively. When Gwen looked at her questioning, River explained. "His manipulator has been tampered with; it has a tendency to do nasty things to mine, which works a lot better."

Gwen nodded as Jack hurried back over to River's side. She extended an arm, and Jack looped his hand through it with a stupid flirtatious look on his face. River rolled her eyes; her finger paused above the button on the manipulator.

"I'll bring him back for you," she promised Gwen, then off they went.

A moment later they landed, but instead of being greeted by the warm glow of the Tardis, they were surrounded by cold air and the dank sounds and smells of an inner city, harshly lit by streetlamps. And they weren't even modern streetlamps.

Jack cursed as his manipulator flashed and spewed a tiny puff of smoke.

"I thought I told you to turn that thing off!" River huffed.

"I'll fix it," Jack muttered, his fingers flying over the tiny buttons.

"You'd better; we don't have much time."

"Said the time traveller," Jack said, flashing a grin that really made River want to punch him. He muttered some more, fiddling with the infernally broken contraption as River wandered off a few steps, glancing around.

They were definitely in the interior of a big city, judging by the smells and the sounds of sirens wailing off in the distance. She felt a slight pull, as though she'd been here before, a very long time ago, but she couldn't quite place it. She crept round to the corner of the building, peeking into the next alley. Off in the distance, someone was coughing.

River looked around carefully, trying desperately to figure out what it was about this place that seemed so familiar, where and when she'd seen it before. It was like a strange case of deja-vu, like she somehow knew what was coming next, but for the life of her she couldn't remember what it was.

Behind her, she heard Jack's footsteps, and the coughing in the distance sounded again. "I think I've got it fixed now, so let's go-"

And suddenly, she remembered.

"Wait!" she hissed in a whisper, her hand grabbing his wrist before he could press the button and send them hurtling through time again.

"What is it?" he asked, tensing.

"Just wait," River breathed as she looked round the corner.

Curious, Jack did the same, his head hovering above hers.

"Stay out of sight," she whispered, and he backed up a little just as a young girl came into view, emerging from the shadows of the dark alley. She was only about five years old, and dreadfully thin and tired looking. Her face and dress were smudged with dirt, and her hand flew to her mouth as she coughed violently, her entire body wracked with the motion.

"She doesn't look well," Jack whispered, and River looked at the little girl sadly.

"She's dying."

"What?" Jack hissed, instantly moving to go and help her, but River grabbed him again, keeping him out of sight. "What are you doing? We could help her!"

"No, we can't," River said, her voice low and absolutely serious. "She's dying, and there's nothing you can do to help her."

"Of course there is! How do you know we can't help her?"

River tugged on his wrist again, making his gaze snap back to her, and making sure all of his attention was on her before she spoke. "Because that little girl is me."

That stopped him, and for a moment, he just stared at her, completely dumbfounded.

River looked into his eyes as she explained, as quickly and as quietly as she could. "That's me, when I was a child; Melody Pond. In a few moments, a man is going to find her; a Time Agent with a vortex manipulator, and he'll offer to take her to any time she wants. She'll go with him to 1994, where he'll leave her. And she will still be dying, and then, moments later, she will regenerate."

"Regenerate?" Jack repeated.

"Yes, regenerate," River replied. "And when she's done that, she'll be fine, and she'll stowaway on a cargo ship bound for England. And then she'll make her way to Leadworth, where she'll grow up with Amy Pond and Rory Williams. Trust me," River said with a small smile. "She's going to be fine."

Jack stared at her for a few more moments. Sure, he understood the principals, but it was wrapping his head around the fact that River knew all of this because it had already happened – to her.

"It must be my fault we're here. I was thinking about regenerations when we left the Hub," she admitted. "Just watch; you'll see."

Jack didn't say anything, but he did shift a little so that he could see round into the next alley again. The poor little girl was still coughing, and she must have been half frozen with the icy winter wind that was whipping about. He absently wondered if this was painful for River to watch, but when he glanced at her, she was looking on with such an intent and sure expression. His gaze went back to the little girl, who had recovered from her coughing fit and was now slowly shuffling along, going on her way.

"Any moment now, he'll appear. I never got to see his face, but this is definitely when he comes," River said, absolutely certain of her memory. Jack nodded, but nothing was happening except for the girl moving slowly along. "Any moment now," River said, and then a few seconds later, "Any second."

"I don't think anyone's coming," Jack said softly.

"They are," River said. "They have to."

"Who was it who came for you?"

"I don't know; I never saw his face. It was too dark, and he was wearing sunglasses anyway."

Jack watched, but still no one appeared. His gaze drifted, down to the manipulator on his wrist, and the sunglasses tucked into his shirt pocket because it had been a sunny day in Cardiff.

"Come on, where are you?" River whispered, and suddenly, it clicked in Jack's mind.

"It's me," he murmured.

"What?"

"It's me," he repeated, moving to step out into the alley, but River grabbed his wrist again.

"No, it's really not," River said, and he glared at her as much as she was glaring at him. She opened her mouth to protest, to tell him that of course it wasn't him, couldn't possibly be him, never in a million years could it ever have been him, and then he slipped his sunglasses on. And there was an exact replica of her Time Agent. Her mouth fell open in shock, and when he pulled out of her grasp, she let him go.

He was just about to step into the street when she remembered why it couldn't be him.

"He didn't have a coat on!" she called out in a hoarse whisper, and in reply, Jack slipped off his coat and threw it at her.

She wanted to shout at him, to tell him not to be so stupid, but to do that now would mean that the little girl would see her. And that was something she couldn't allow, because she hadn't seen herself here. As Melody, she had been fascinated by curly hair, because hers was so lifelessly straight. She definitely would have remembered a woman with fantastically curly hair. So instead River was forced to just hide and watch, crouched round the corner as Jack strode into the alley, calling out to her younger self.

"Hey, little girl!"

Melody jumped and shrank back fearfully into the shadows.

"It's alright," Jack said, holding up his hands to show that he was unarmed. "Melody, isn't it? It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to help you."

River watched as Melody slowly approached Jack, and he crouched down beside her so that they were more or less the same height, just as she remembered him doing. River's breath caught in her throat as she realised that it was true; Jack really was the one who had come to save her.

"I heard you needed some help, that right?" Jack asked, and little Melody nodded. "I'm a Time Agent, and this is a vortex manipulator. Know what it does?"

Melody shook her head.

"It lets me travel through time. A little bird told me you needed help getting to another time, so…when is it that you need to go?"

Melody studied him for a moment, squinting against the bright streetlamp behind him that was shining in her eyes, obscuring her vision of him. Then she heard the sounds of footsteps coming fast down another nearby alley, and she decided that she'd rather trust this man than wait for them to catch up to her.

"Nineteen-ninety-four," she replied, placing her little hand into his outstretched palm. Jack punched in the co-ordinates, and River watched nervously from her place crouched in the shadows, listening, like little Melody, to the approaching footsteps. She still didn't know if they were the Silents and Kovarian, coming to catch her, and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out. What she did want to do was go and tell Melody that everything would be alright. That things were going to get a lot worse someday, but that everything would be alright in the end. Because at some points in her complicated life, she had really needed to know that. But of course, she hadn't, so River couldn't go and say it now.

A moment later, Jack looked straight at River, and pressed the button on his vortex manipulator, making himself and little Melody vanish.

River waited nervously as the seconds ticked by. She remembered that the man had taken her to 1994, just as she'd asked, given her a brief hug, and then pointed her in the direction of the docks where she could jump a ship.

And then he was back, materialising in exactly the same spot as he'd been in before, now running towards her. He had a big grin on his face, his eyes hidden behind the big Ray Ban sunglasses. It was a sight that had been etched into her memory years and years ago, the last grin the man had given her before using his manipulator and teleporting out, leaving her by herself, but safe, and in the time zone she needed. Staring up at him again now, River felt as though all of her breath had been knocked out of her.

"It really was you," she said as Jack helped her up from where she'd been crouched, hidden in the shadows. "I had no idea it was you."

"How 'bout that," Jack said, flashing that same grin again, and she let out a breath of laughter. "Ready to go?" he asked. "You said we were in a hurry?"

That brought River out of her past and back to her present. "We certainly are," she said, typing in the co-ordinates again. "I'll let the Doctor explain once we're there. Turn that off," she added, nodding to his manipulator.

He gave a melodramatic roll of his eyes but did as he was asked, then took her hand right before she sent them flying through time and space.

This time, they were rewarded with the surroundings that they had been expecting; the warm glow of the Tardis, her slightly frantic whirring as she mirrored the emotions of her Time Lord. The Doctor was leant against the console, his face going from the beginnings of panic to relief.

"You're ten seconds late," the Doctor chided, and then he saw their linked hands. "And oi! Hands off my wife!"

River and Jack smiled at each other, before River slipped her hand from his and went over to the Doctor. She leaned up to give him a brief, happy kiss.

"I'm sorry my love; we got distracted," she said.

"How distracted?" the Doctor asked suspiciously.

River looked back at Jack, a new found respect for him in her eyes, and she saw that he was looking at her with much the same expression. She turned back to the Doctor with a wide smile, lacing her fingers through his. "Jack was busy saving me when I was five."

Confused, the Doctor looked between River and Jack, and back again, and again. Jack nodded in confirmation, and River gave the Doctor an enigmatic smile.

"You're going to have to explain that to me later," he said to her, tapping his finger affectionately on her nose. They shared the briefest of smiles, before the Doctor strode towards Jack, pulling River along behind him.

"Thank you for coming," he said, clapping Jack on the shoulder as he walked by, signalling for Jack to follow him as he pushed his way out through the doors. "We've found ourselves in a bit of a sticky situation, and we could do with your help…"

The Tardis doors swung closed behind them, leaving the machine to hum patiently to herself, awaiting their triumphant return.