A/N: Two days!

Everybody Knows

The first thing she noticed when she entered the TARDIS was a pen.

It wasn't just any pen, though. It was a remarkably perfect recreation of the sonic screwdriver, right down to the most miniature of sculpted details. The only difference was that at the tip, where the diode should be, was a pen head.

"Mum!" Jenny chirped, skipping further into the TARDIS. Her voice echoed around her. "Mum! I know you're here!" She was heading for one of the TARDIS's guest bedrooms, the one that had been reserved for the woman she was looking for, when her father emerged from it with his head tucked down, pressing against his chest. Jenny stopped, instantly on edge. "Dad?"

"Jenny."

His voice was like a wilted rose and a sense of decay filled the pit of Jenny's stomach. She stepped back, cautiously examining her father's rounded shoulders and cropped hair. It was a new hair cut and so was the suit. She had grown used to seeing him in his antique professor tweed jacket and red bow tie, but now he wore a stylish penguin tux and crisp black bow tie, reminding her of an old 007 movie she'd once found in the library's video section, reserved for Earth's popular culture.

"Wh-why are you dressed up like?" she asked, the worry in her voice giving herself away.

"Jenny, there's something you should know-"

Jenny's eyes flicked, catching the fact that his hand was clenched. "Where is she?" Her feet were still skipping back across the floor, moving to the center console. Her hand patted restlessly along the controls, moving until she fingered the sonic inspired pen and picked it up, clutching it like a weapon.

"She's–"

"Don't. Don't you dare do it! Don't tell me she's gone!" Riveting blonde curls swung around her head like ribbons as she shook it to emphasize herself.

"It was time, Jenny."

"Tell me what happened!"

"I had to take her back, back to-"

"Bring 'er back."

"I can't."

"'Course you can! This is a time machine! That's what it's for!"

"There are some things even I can't change!" The Doctor smashed his hand against one of the beams. The TARDIS rattled in time with his unrest. "It might as well be time locked!"

"'Might as well'? You won't save her because of a 'might as well'?! She's the closest thing to a mother I've ever had! You know that! You loved 'er, damnit!"

"Then you know how hard this was for me!" The sound of the pen hitting the glass floor made him cringe, but the sight of his little girl on the floor, scrambling to pick it up brought him to his knees. The Doctor grabbed her by her shoulders as she clutched the pen to her chest. "I loved her, Jenny. I loved her as much as I love you and this…she saw me cry tonight and didn't even know why."

"Why didn't you let me say goodbye?"

"I thought it was better this way. I know you, you're all of me after all. I didn't want to burden you with this kind of pain."

"This is worse." She dropped her head to her father's shoulder.

His child was crying and he couldn't stand the sound. All The Doctor could do was hold her close. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so, so sorry."

"What's goin' to 'appen to 'er?"

"She's going to save my life." He ran his hand through her ponytail, feeling powerless with no way to dry her tears. "Jenny, I need you to do something for me. I've been working on something."

"What?" She suddenly grasped his wrist and placed one of her hands over his clamped fist as she leaned back, perceptive as ever even in her time of sorrow. "What is this?" she slowly pried back his fingers, revealing a small blinking green device. "What is this?"

"It's a neural relay," he explained. "I've linked it to myself. When I die-"

"Don't even say that!"

"Jenny," he breathed, "listen to me: when I die – and I will die one day, I only have one regeneration left – you must take this to The Library and upload it to CAL."

"Why?" she snatched up the relay device, examining it between her nimble fingertips.

"What is it? What does it do?"

"It will transfer my consciousness to CAL's memory. It will reunite me with River. Forever."

Jenny swallowed the thick saliva in her mouth. She couldn't even think about losing her father. After finding him again, after traveling with him and eventually River Song, whom she'd come to regard as her father's truest mate and the closest thing she'd ever come to a mother, even if she'd only ever be a step-mother, the idea of him dying in any permanent way made her feel like she was right back in her father's arms with a gunshot slowly bleeding her existence away. "Is that what you did to River?"

"Yes, but it had to happen. It was her choice: her or me, and she chose to sacrifice herself to save me and everything that was to come. It was the first time I ever met her."

"She sounds as brilliant as ever."

"She was."

Jenny leaned forward, grabbing for The Doctor's black bow tie. She fingered it for several minutes, with her father trying to arch his head and peer from the corner to see what she was up to, to no avail.

"What are you-" Then he felt her fingers pulling back his dress jacket and slipping something into his inner pocket before closing it again.

"Done."

"Done? What?" He caught Jenny grinning through tears as he looked down and with her hands out of the way, noticed the faint flicker of green light poking out of his black bow tie. Then he slipped his hand into his inner pocket and felt the sonic screwdriver shaped pen – a companion gift that Jenny had given to River during the same Christmas he had presented River with her TARDIS look-a-like journal and she, in turn, had bought him a journal with a textured cover resembling a sectioned off archeological dig site – seated in the pocket that pressed against one of his twin hearts. It happened to be his right heart, for that was the side of his chest River liked to lay her head on when she slept.

"Connected the neural relay to the inside of your tie," she explained softly. "I think maybe you should keep this suit for a while. Looks better than the nutty professor one."

"River said that too."

"Mum has-" She stopped herself, rubbed her throat lightly with the pads of her fingers, and finished, "-always had good taste." She batted her wet thick, mascara laden eyelashes. It was a full proof formula from the planet Roxian in the Allison Galaxy and the only thing about her that didn't run. "I have an idea."

"Yeah?" The Doctor was still fiddling with his tie.

"We should go on an adventure in 'er honor."

"What kind? Where?"

"I don't know," she whispered, cracking a half smile. "But there's one condition: it has to as brilliant as she was!"

"Nothing could be that brilliant."

Jenny turned then to the TARDIS controls. Her hands shivered as she began to push buttons and pull back levers, causing grinds and huffs and puffs and groans like a chugging train. They were much harsher sounds than the TARDIS had ever made before and gently, she moved her hand to the central column, where the blown glass sphere seemed to be chugging at a phenomenally slow rate. "I know you're mourning too," she whispered, patting the column as tenderly as possible. "But this is for Mum. Love, why don't you choose, yeah?"

The Doctor agreed with a numb nod. "Look at the three of us. River would be so disappointed about us slogging around in her absence." He placed his hand beside Jenny's along the glass column. He watched earnestly as the blown glass behind his hand began to slide up and down at an alarming pace. The Doctor looked to his daughter, who's eyes were beginning to glow.

"We're off and running!"

"Geronimo!"

Jenny charged towards the windows, eagerly watching the spinning of the time vortex as her father manned the controls, completely unaware of where what the TARDIS had in store. But given her predominately good judgment, Jenny trusted her completely. The Time Lady flounced back to the control panel and slapped her hands down on the blue stabilizers, smirking at her father as he gave her a look. "Where do you think we are?"

"Only time will tell." He grasped Jenny's hand and they skipped down the ramp towards the door, where he held his fingers before her face and snapped them, causing the doors to retract before their eyes.

"It looks like a-"

"Playground!"

Curious, Jenny ventured out, tugging her dad along behind her. Dressed in her usual dark olive green skin tight top and black pants, she didn't look as near as out of place as her father. As they looked around, they could see mothers pushing their children on swings, little girls and boys whipping down slides and swinging along monkey bars. It looked fairly normal.

"This can't be right," The Doctor muttered. "The TARDIS must be too upset, she must have made a mistake."

Jenny squeezed his hand. "Dad."

"I'm going to go back in there and see-"

"Dad."

"-what I can do about-"

"Dad!"

"What?"

"She didn't make a mistake." She directed a clear painted fingernail towards the sandbox, where a small child with wiry ginger curls was chugging away with a plastic shovel. "She couldn't be more than six."

"Only nine-hundred years younger than when I first met her."

Jenny coughed. "And I thought it was just human females who lied about their age."

"I don't lie!" Under the burn of Jenny's eyes, he looked back at the girl in the sandbox. "I only stopped counting my years on Gallifrey by my ninth generation." At Jenny's continued look, he puckered his lips. "Okay, fine! I also round up or down depending on what timeline in the universe I am, so sue me! It's hard to keep track. One day you'll do the same thing."

"Stop stalling," she laughed, tugging his hand again.

"I-I-I-" He stuttered over his words, refusing to budge. "She's so young."

"I think that's the point. C'mon!"

The Doctor stumbled behind Jenny, staring at his squeaky clean dress shoes as they collected dirt and dew as they tromped through the playground. Jenny released his hand as she jumped onto the wooden edge of the sandbox and waited until he had followed her, before shamelessly plopping down into the sand. Reluctantly, he followed suit. "This was a good suit," he muttered into Jenny's ear. "A gift from Prince William of Wales himself!"

"Stop your blubbering and introduce yourself," Jenny whispered.

The ruddy haired child cocked her head back, staring right into The Doctor's eyes.

The Doctor couldn't help himself; he used the sleeve of his jacket to dab his eyes. "Hello, Sweetie."

"Why're you crying, Sir?"

"Always been bold, I s'pose," Jenny commented beneath her breath.

With a nod he responded, "It's been a long time since I've played in the dirt."

"You like dirt too?" she replied, her face a glow a glow as she picked up a fistful of sand. "I love the dirt! Look what I found!"

The Doctor picked up a small, copper colored point from her hand. It resembled a penny, somewhat, though the color was far darker and the engravings were scratched and worn away. He knew immediately what it was, as he'd seen it many times before. "Ah," he choked, "what a brilliant find! This is a piece of 'istory, you know. An artifact!"

"An arti-" she clicked her lips, tasting the word on her tongue, "artifact? What's that?"

"Something archeologists live for!"

"What's an arche-arche-"

"Ologist?" Jenny supplied with a grin.

The child nodded eagerly. "Yeah."

"Why, the wife of a time traveler, of course!" Jenny blurted out, before her father could even get a word in edge wise.

"A time traveler?" she frowned, unimpressed, as The Doctor handed the coin back to her. She pocketed it and picked up her sun faded, red plastic shovel again. "Who are you?"

"I'm Jenny and this," she motioned emphatically to her father, "is my dad."

"I'm The Doctor."

"The Doctor?" Again, her tone gave away her disinterest. "That's not a name. What's your real name?"

He couldn't help himself. "Spoilers."

"Spoilers?" Her nose crumpled into her face. "What's a spoiler?"

"It's like an early birthday present," Jenny supplied.

"But I like early presents!"

"But don't you like surprises even more?"

"Depends on what it is." She clicked her tongue to the roof of her mouth contemplatively. "My name's River," she announced. "River Song."

A cheeky grin spread across The Doctor's face. "Lovely name."

Jenny frowned. "Didn't your mum ever tell you not to be so bold with strangers?"

River shrugged. "Don't have a mum."

A sigh elapsed between Jenny's lips. "Me neither."

"River! River!"

River looked over her shoulder. A man with frizzy ginger hair was running about the playground. She sighed. "My dad's callin', I have to go." She stood up, but didn't bother to brush the dirt off her clothes. "Will you come play again sometime?"

"Oooh," The Doctor intoned, "don't you worry, River Song. You have all the games the come!"

"River!"

"Bye, Doctor. Jenny!" She flicked her wrist in a quick goodbye, jumped over the edge of the sandbox, and began to run towards her dad.

"Run, River. You just watch us run." He reached into his inner left breast pocket and pulled something out, tucked between his fingers. As he opened them, Jenny peered over.

"What is that?" she questioned, staring at the gleaming copper coin between his fingers.

"She gave it to me. There's a fountain at the entrance gates to Darillium. She stopped there as we were leaving and said she wanted to make a wish."

"Wait, you're not saying…" She pointed to the sandbox, where River had left her plastic shovel. "It's not that coin?"

"The natural springs of Darillium have restorative properties."

"It's hard to believe that's an ancient artifact."

"After all you've seen, this is hard to believe?"

"It's so old and yet, so new and hopeful and full of life."

"And from this day on, it'll be this way forever."

Jenny leaned her head onto her dad's shoulder. "What did she wish?"

"She didn't say, but I think I know." He rolled the coin between his fingers. "She saw my tears and she didn't ask. For once, she didn't ask and I didn't have to say it. I think…I think she just wanted to dry them up. I know that if it had been the other way around, that's what I would have wanted."

"So I gather you went back to get the coin?"

"I needed to keep a little piece of her with me." He stood up, gazed down at his dirtied tux, but didn't brush himself off. "I hate spoilers."

"Everybody knows every story has to end sometime."

"It already has."

"No, you just haven't had a chance to turn the page yet." She slid her arm around his waist and began to lead him towards the TARDIS. "I think you'll be surprised by the epilogue. Everybody knows it's worth the wait."