Chapter 1: Hello, Sweetie

River was pouring over her papers, trying to find some clue as to where the Doctor might have gone, much s she had done years earlier when she was looking for him the first time. The difference was that this time, she wasn't looking for him over a sense that she might need him for something. This time, she knew he needed her. He didn't deal well with goodbyes, but still he didn't normally shut himself away from the world like this. The loss of her parents had to be wearing hard on him, and she had to make sure that he was okay.

It wasn't that she wasn't grieving over the loss of her parents too. It wasn't like they were dead, but they might as well have been. After they were taken by the Angels she'd locked herself in her office at Luna University and just sobbed uncontrollably for several hours. She'd only managed to pull herself together when her boss had gone looking for her.

She knew, even then, that it would be worse for him. She had been without her parents for a very long time, and alone even longer. She was used to making her own way in the Universe. The Doctor, despite his amazing intellect and impressive skill, couldn't be alone. He needed someone to stop him from doing anything to dangerous and he needed someone to bounce his mad ideas off of. It couldn't always be her, but she felt that now, at least, it needed to be her.

She threw her papers aside in frustration. Why did the impossible man that she loved have to be so damn impossible to find! If only it were so simple as him answering the phone, but that was the first thing she'd tried. With all of time and space at his disposal, he could be absolutely anywhere. She went through a few of the infinite possibilities in her mind, but none of them fit for a depressed doctor.

She could find past versions of her love with any of his past companions, but it was the present version she needed to find. He was good at hiding, so she would have to make a grand gesture equivalent to vandalizing the oldest cliff face in the universe to get his attention. First though, she needed to stop off at a place she had a hunch about. Her hunches often ended up being worthwhile, since she had something of a sixth sense when it came to the Doctor. Perhaps it had something to do with her connection to the TARDIS, which was really the Doctor's only constant companion. Whatever it was she knew Gus' Intergalactic Bar in the early 51st century was exactly where she needed to go.

It was in her records that the Doctor had visited that establishment a few times, and maybe she could imagine him drowning his sorrows in a whole lot of alcohol (it's what she was tempted to do), but she didn't really expect to find him there. He would be somewhere much more hidden, and much more difficult to find. Yet something told her that's where she needed to be.

She had been meeting the Doctor out of order for as long as she'd known him, and she had never minded before. He was still the only man that she could ever fall in love with, and he would still be that man if she ever met him before he'd known her. This time, just this one time, she wanted their paths to cross in order. They both needed that after their loss. The Doctor had done such good for the Universe, that the universe owed him - no owed them both.

She looked into the mirror above her desk, ensuring that her hair and makeup was alright. She needed to look her best when she saw her husband again. She put on her vortex manipulator, double checking that she would wind up in the right place. It had nothing on TARDIS travel, but she would make do.

River paused for a moment, glancing at the request for her to lead an exhibition in a year's time at the universe's largest library. That was what she had told the Doctor the last time she'd seen him before Manhattan - the last time either of them were happy. He hadn't seemed too happy when she mentioned that either, now that she thought of it.

Just as she was about to leave she could have sworn she heard the infernal whirring sound that the TARDIS made. Sometimes she would stay up all night listening for that sound. How she missed her mad husband and his blue box.

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Jack had frequented this bar before, but generally in better times. He'd gone here to pick up an intergalactic date for some fun, to catch up with old friends and he had even brought Ianto here a few times. This time he was here to forget. He was going to get so mind blowingly drunk that he was going to forget his own name. With Ianto gone and not even death to escape to himself, he figured this was all that was left for them.

A few people, mostly men in uniform like himself, had tried to flirt with him and offered to buy him drinks. While he took the drinks, he told the guys that he was taken. It broke his heart to say it because of how much he wished it was true. He used to be much better at leaving the past in the past. It was the only way to live when you were never going to die. But over the past few years at Torchwood he'd gotten attached, and drinking was his numbing agent of choice.

He was on what the thought was his seventh drink, though the more he drank the more difficulty he had with things like counting. Ever since he had been brought back to life, he found it took him a lot longer to get drunk. The various species that were visiting the bar were starting to give him a large berth. He probably looked as pathetic as he felt.

"I wanna 'nother one sir please," he slurred, trying to think of nothing but that statement, The green skinned, horned bar tender from planets unknown didn't ask him what he wanted anymore. He just hand him his drink and went back to chatting with the other customers. The bar tender had tried making small talk with him when he'd ordered his first drink, but Jack had made it very clear that he wanted to be left alone.

"Cheers," he said to no one, taking a long sip of his drink. That's when he saw her, staring at him from across the bar. He didn't often take notice of women but she was definitely memorable. She wore tight jeans and a leather jacket, and his eyes were immediately drawn to the blaster gun she carried in a holster. She had wild curly blond hair that looked in his semi inebriated state like a halo around her head. But what he noticed most was that she walked in extremely confident, like she owned the place. Definitely not this bar's typical patron.

Just when he thought this woman couldn't be any stranger, instead of avoiding him like the rest of the bar had done, she sat in the stool right next to him. He realized that he was staring in not the most attractive manner, so he turned away.

"Your finest red wine sir," the woman said. This wasn't the kind of place people normally ordered red wine, and he couldn't help but notice the British accent which reminded him simultaneously of all the people he had grown close to the past few years. It was technically such a small fraction of his life, but it seemed like the only fraction that mattered.

The woman seemed very intent on her drink, until for some reason she turned and looked right at him. "You look familiar," she said, narrowing her piercing blue eyes at him. "Doctor River Song. Have we met?" She offered him her hand and he shook it, wondering why this woman thought she recognized him.

"I'd remember a girl as pretty as you," Jack said, flashing her his most flirtatious smile. "Hi, I'm Captain Jack Harkness." Even when he's miserable it's nice to know that he's still got it.

River Song's eyes widened at the name. "Why I think you know my husband," she said with a small laugh.

"I think I'd remember a husband as attractive as yours must be too," Jack said with a wink.

River laughed in earnest now, and jack was surprised by how much he liked the sound. "Oh he'd love to hear that," she said, sounding a little mischievous. "My husband is the Doctor."

Now it was Jack's turn to look shocked. He hadn't seen the Doctor since he was in this bar, not too long ago, and the Doctor had introduced him to Alonso. That was a lot of fun, to be sure, but he'd be a little disappointed that the Doctor hadn't come to say hello. He'd given up on ever seeing that magnificent man ever again. He worried that the Doctor was still avoiding him because of the whole immortality thing and he figured seeing the Doctor again would just be a happy bonus.

Still, it was nice to hear that the Doctor had found someone. Jack never thought the Doctor would have a wife, since he'd never married any of the dozens of companions he's had over the years, and he'd always seemed pretty hard to reach not unlike Jack himself. This River woman must be special for her to have won the Doctor's heart.

"I've missed that man," Jack said wistfully. "So how is he?"

River's face fell and Jack's heart leapt into his throat as he imagined all of the impossibly horrible scenarios that could have befallen the Doctor. "That's the problem," River said softly. "He's gone through a terrible loss and now I can't find him. I think he needs me."

Jack knew a thing or two about loss and the desire to hide himself from the world. But the Doctor always needed someone and if he had a wife, he still had people who needed him. He wasn't entirely sure if anyone could save him from himself, but that's what he wanted to do for the Doctor.

"I'm going to help you find him," Jack said standing up, still a little unsteady on his feet.

River smiled at him, "I was hoping you would say that."