How Did She Get Here? – a Doctor Who fanfiction by River Eagle.
Characters:
Bad Wolf/Rose Tyler, 11th Doctor, River Song, Clara Osward, 12th Doctor, Jack Harkness, 10th Doctor Duplicate, Amy Pond, Rory Williams (plus others)
Songfic – Based on Cliff Richard's "How did she get here" song. Starting Season 6 "The Impossible Astronaut."
Prologue
The Doctor dropped his gaze from the time rotor as both Amy Pond and River Song disappeared beneath the control deck. He shifted his gaze to Rory, and asked, "Rory; is everybody cross with me for some reason?"
"I'll find out," Rory replied.
The Doctor watched the man leave the control deck. He knew that the Roman wouldn't return with a straight answer. There weren't a lot of those going around at the moment. How the Doctor hated River's continued "Spoilers" comment to anything that he asked. What had he done in the future to deserve the distain he sensed coming his way from all three of his companions? He could hear a hushed conversation happening below his feet and knew he could listen in to what they were saying. Perhaps he'd learn something about what had scared them. But he knew he wouldn't. Timelines and all that rot.
He rubbed his cheek from where River had slapped him. It didn't hurt anymore, and though he had said that he was looking forward to seeing what made him deserve the slap, he really wasn't. Pursing his lips, he tried taking a deep breath to calm himself down. How long were they going to be discussing him without him present?
Sticking his head over the edge of the glass floor, he growled, "I'm being extremely clever up here and there's no one to stand around looking impressed. What's the point of having you all?" He disappeared again while River shook her head.
The three of them made their way back to the main level of the control hub while the Doctor pranced around, mainly just talking to fill in the awkward tension while he tried to work out what to do. Was he really going to answer the summons or just take them back to where they were supposed to be? He eventually stopped and went to sit in the jump seat. Resting his forehead on his hand, he crossed his legs. River moved around the console so she could have a good look at the Time Lord.
She knew that this wouldn't be easy. She knew trying to get the Doctor to do anything would require a lot of patience on her part, as well as her parents' part – not that Amy and Rory knew that fact yet
As if the Doctor knew she was looking at him, he removed his hand from his face. "What?" he snapped, throwing his hand out. "A mysterious summons? You think I'm just going to go? Who sent those messages?" He stared down River Song, but she didn't answer. Turning his attention to Amy and Rory, he knew they knew who sent them. "I know you know. I can see it in your faces. Don't play games with me. Don't ever, ever think you're capable of that."
"You're going to have to trust us this time," River said.
"Trust you? Sure," the Doctor cut her off. He didn't even really know her. Why would he trust her? He stood up, and got into River's face. "But first of all, Doctor Song, just one thing. Who are you?" He waited for her to answer, yet he knew that she wouldn't answer him. Not now. All she'd say would be 'spoilers'. He hated that word. And hated how he had to wait to find out who exactly River Song was to him – and why she knew his name. "You're someone from my future, guessing that, but who?" The Doctor took a side glance at the Ponds before looking back at who he assumed was his future wife. He controlled his urge to shudder. She remained silent, so he asked her the other burning question he had. "Okay, why are you in prison? Who did you kill? Hmm?" This time he didn't even wait for River to answer, even though she flinched at the question. Okay, that was interesting – must have just happened recently for her. "Now I love a bad girl me, but trust you? Seriously?"
"You should. River knows what's at stake here, Doctor." That voice – one from so long before, froze both hearts of the Time Lord. He didn't want to turn his gaze from River's face to the other side of the console – to where he assumed a hologram would be playing. What else would it be? But when the voice didn't continue, he knew he would have to confront his past.
"Who is that?" Amy whispered to Rory. Both of them had moved around the column to look at the hologram playing by the TARDIS. River moved to the red head's side. The archaeologist opened her mouth then closed it again. She wasn't 100% sure who it was, but could she could venture a guess.
The Doctor looked fully at the hologram and asked, "How?"
The hologram smiled sadly. "Hello, my Doctor. I saw this day coming, and knew you needed someone to trust. So trust me when I say that this day is a fixed point in time. You need to go to Washington, Doctor. You need to find Canton Everett Delaware III." The pre-recorded figure looked down, and then back into where she thought the Doctor would be. "My Doctor. This path is set before you. There is no way to change it. And you know what will happen if you try." The Doctor swallowed and nodded, even though his pink and yellow girl could not see. How did she know about his stint as 'Time Lord Victorious?' "Be brave, my Doctor, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry things are going to change very soon for you."
The blonde blinked a few times before turning her head in the direction where the Doctor's three companions were standing. "River Song, the path you walk is the hardest of them all, and you wonder if you have the strength to walk it at all. Remember the days that you have with them. Both the days gone and the days to come. Their love will keep you strong. Look after him."
River nodded at the hologram, not sure how this mysterious woman knew about her, and her mixed up relationship with the Doctor and her parents. She frowned at the familiarity that the woman had with her.
"Amy and Rory. You are brilliant, the pair of you. For putting up with him. Be brave, the pair of you. I know how much you want to tell him what's going on, but you can't. He needs to live it."
The blonde's attention returned to the Doctor. Her voice hardened. "And if you dare ask them what's happening, Doctor, I will have River slap you to hell and back. If you need further proof that you need to go – I was the one who sent you those messages. Trust me, my Doctor. I will see you in 1969." She then gave the tongue and cheek smile the Doctor was accustomed to seeing from her. And then, her image flickered and was gone. The Doctor moved his hand up to rest it where the phantom cheek would have been. He'd forgotten – in all the years since his regeneration, he'd forgotten how much she'd meant to him. How much she'd filled the void since his people died. How much he'd loved her. He blinked and moistened his lips. She'd asked him to go – told him he'd see her there. Of course he'd go. Now. Fixing a smile on his face, he turned back to his three companions.
"Doctor," Amy asked. "Who was that?"
"Doesn't matter," the Doctor shot back. "What matters is Canton III. Who's he?"
River moved to the scanner and started looking up information.
HDSGH
"The President asked her where she was, and like any lost little girl, she looked out the window." The Doctor moved to the window and looked out at the street signs. The little girl was around here somewhere, he knew. And there, he stopped. It didn't matter who Canton Everett Delaware III was, it didn't matter that there was a lost little girl out there somewhere and he had to find her, and it certainly didn't matter that he was in 1969, the year of the moon, with Amy, Rory and River. Nothing really mattered now that his gaze was fixed, not on the street signs, but on the woman beneath them.
"Streets!" Amy said in the background, but he hardly heard her. Leaning against the post beneath the street signs was a blonde – and it wasn't just any blonde. It was his blonde. "Of course, it was street names." The Doctor turned slightly to see River looking worriedly at him. He could sense her worry. But he couldn't really seem to bring himself to care. Looking back out the window, he saw that the woman was gone.
How could she be here? Now? The last time he saw Rose Tyler, actually properly saw her, was when he dropped her off in the parallel world, with his meta-crisis.
Snapping his attention to the here and now, the Doctor said, "The only place in Florida, probably the only place in all of America where those three streets are on the same junction." He turned to look fully at River Song. If it was any normal day of running into this woman, he may have flirted a bit, but not this day. Not when he'd been first shaken by seeing a recording of Rose Tyler in the TARDIS (he knew that he could explain that one away, somehow) but to have her show up in Florida, 1969, of all places scared him. He knew he'd never brought her here. So how on earth did she get there? "Why are you looking at me like that?" he snapped.
River tried not to look hurt. She was getting used to seeing a version of the Doctor who knew less about her the more she knew him; but each time she ran into a younger Doctor, it still hurt. "What's wrong with you today, Sweetie? Who was that woman?" She hated the fact the Doctor didn't ever seem to fully trust her. It seemed like he never did. He'd never told her about the woman in the hologram – the one he acted like was a ghost. And it hurt that all that the other woman had to do was say 'trust me'. She could never do that with any version of the Doctor. He never even bought himself to tell her his name. She shook her head, and pushed past him.
"Her name was Rose," he admitted quietly, just as she moved past him. She stopped and looked into his sad green eyes. "And I lost her."
And even though he tried to hide it, River finally saw the truth – the truth that his hearts never really belonged to her. She continued passed him, trying to hold in her tears, feeling hurt and betrayed.
"River," he added, just as softly as before, even though he knew that the moment between them was slipping away. The Doctor looked down and then back up into her gaze. He knew that she was only barely holding it together. "It's complicated."
"Isn't it always?" She averted her gaze. "We've got work to do."
HDSGH
The two of them tried to put on a brave face for the others, and for the most part they succeeded. By avoidance. The Doctor was good at that. And River, she knew that if she confronted the Doctor again so soon after him snapping at her, she would lose what semblance of control she had. Neither really knew what it would take for them to get back to the flirting – goodness, how River missed that, their friendly banter, and the underlining tension that was present every time she met a younger version of her beloved husband. It was a good thing that they had three months apart to really think about what they wanted from their mixed up, opposite direction, relationship.
The Doctor tried hard to forget what he'd seen in Florida. Especially with what he knew to be the truth: River was his future, and Rose Tyler, the Bad Wolf, was his past. And after three months of not doing anything (pure torture in a Time Lord's mind) he had sorted through his confusing feelings for River and tried to put his past behind him.
And once they went to rescue Amy, the two of them fell back into the rhythm of teasing and flirting with each other. The Doctor was glad of that. What was unexpected though was when he was dropping River off at Storm Cage. Whatever had affected her mood back in Florida had all but gone, and she snogged him. Properly, fully snogged him.
"Right…" he said, pulling away from her. "Okay. Interesting."
River's face dropped, and she pulled back further. "What's wrong? You act as though we haven't done that before."
"We haven't." He gave her a charming smile.
Again, she got a sinking feeling in her heart. If he hadn't ever kissed her before, then she had just claimed her last kiss from him. "We haven't?"
The Doctor knew this could go one of two ways: he could walk away now and leave River with a broken heart, or he could try mending whatever was left of their strange relationship. He saw in her eyes the pain of his apparent lack of recognition and was fully going to make an excuse to walk away. And then he did something unexpected; he leaned in and pressed his forehead against hers. "River," he whispered. "Please, be patient. I want this with you."
She gave him a shaky smile. "Sweetie, my past is your future. Of course you'll have this with me. But I won't have it with you. Not anymore."
"What if I can change that?"
"Don't you dare! You watch us run." River cupped his cheek. "And I will see you again."
"My past, your future," the Doctor returned. "Why does this have to be so complicated?"
"That's the way this is, Sweetie. And I wouldn't change it for the world. Now go, you have many adventures with me yet."
The Doctor pulled away from River and moved to his TARDIS. Turning back to take one last look at the incarcerated woman, he smiled. "Until next time, Doctor Song. Let's make it a good one." He disappeared into the TARDIS, leaving behind a desolate woman.
