Prologue

It had been raining. It's almost always raining in Leadworth. The Earth was drenched and the Sky the colour of sorrow.

The Ponds' had been busy, going about their day as usual. They never heard the TARDIS landing, its familiar grating of brakes left on. A younger looking man, whose green eyes showed centuries of the hard life he'd lived, came to the door holding an umbrella. Ringing the doorbell, he proceeded to fiddle with his bowtie while waiting for the door to open.

The door swiftly opened, startling him, as a face shrouded with long red hair greeted him. The woman's eyes lit up as she saw the widely grinning man. "Doctor!" she said in a British accent with a Scottish lilt. She swiftly hugged him then led him inside.

"Rory! The Doctor's here!" she shouted over her shoulder.

"Coming!" the response followed.

"Amelia Pond!" The Doctor crowed arms wide with a grin to match as he proceeded to hug her again as Rory proceeded to come to the living room.

"And Rory the Roman!" He said releasing Amy.

"Doctor!" Rory said and actually smiled. Ever since the Doctor fixed Amy and Rory's marriage, the Leadworth nurse actually looked forward to seeing him. "To what do we owe this pleasure?" he said, a little nervously, expecting aliens to be in the flower vase or something.

The doctor clasped his hand and said, "Actually, I'm looking for River. I was hoping all four of us could go on an adventure together. But, um,...Have you seen her?" He had been looking at the floor while talking, but now he looked up, glancing at Rory and Amelia. They could both tell by the look in his eyes that he was worried.

Amy shook her head. "No we haven't, actually."

"Isn't she still in Stormcage?" Rory inquired.

The Doctor shook his head. "I checked, but as usual she'd gotten out..." he trailed off, looking past his friends, out through the slider door. He'd seen the telltale puff of smoke and zaps of electricity associated with a Vortex Manipulator. When the Ponds had turned to see what he was looking at, he grinned and muttered affectionately, "speak of the devil."

He sauntered over to the slider door, trying to think of something clever to counteract her banter with, when the look on her face made him stop dead.

He pressed his hand to the cool glass. She was looking at him, rain falling and drenching her, with a look in her eyes telling him to come out and talk to her. Her look pierced him to his core.

He said quietly to his companions, "I think you'd better stay inside." They merely nodded.

Closing the door behind him without looking back. He came through the rain to his wife, the woman he loved.

He cupped her face in his hands, searching her tear filled eyes. "What's wrong River?" He asked gently. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

Then she began crying, unable to hold back the sobs that wracked her body. With her face in her hands, the Doctor pulled her close, holding her comfortingly.

Eventually her sobs decreased until she was merely shuddering from the rush of emotions. "What's wrong?" he asked again quietly although it hurt him deeply. Here, was River Song. His River Song, the strongest person he knew, so very deeply distraught. It unsettled him and made him want to destroy whoever or whatever caused her this grief.

"Doctor..." she said, her voice raw with emotion and grief. Her next words shocked him to the very core. "I had a miscarriage," she said quietly.

Held her closely, murmuring, "Oh, River. River. My beautiful River." He now understood why she was so deeply grieved. Why she acted like she lost someone.

The pain became his too.

"I...I didn't even know I was pregnant, " she strained to say through fresh tears. "I shouldn't have been able too. As soon as she was able too, Madame Kovarian did something to me. Whatever she did to Amy. I shouldn't be able to have children." She tried to breathe between sobs. "It was a miracle, but I never knew, and now it's too late...Oh, Doctor!" Her grief punctured him in both his hearts. "Our child...yours and mine. Why?" she cried.

He still held her, and as she glanced up at his eyes, now streaming tears too, she saw the same pain in him.

His voice was now raw. "River...River," he sighed and held her closer still. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. It's still a miracle you even got pregnant. If only..." his voice broke off. "The universe takes as well as gives. You know what I've said before about miracles. Tragedy sometimes comes to balance it out." His voice began to choke up. "There's nothing you could have done to change this.

"Please don't tell mum and dad about this. It would only hurt them." River whispered to her husband, who merely nodded, thinking the same thing.

But they didn't know the universe wasn't done with them yet.