No, no, you can't! Stay away from me! Get away!

"No!" River Song shouted as she woke, sitting up. She sat huddled in bed with her arms wrapped around her updrawn knees, shivering, although her room at Luna University wasn't cold. This was the third night this week she'd awakened, terrified and hoarse with screaming, unable to remember the dream. She shrieked again as there was a quiet knock at the door, and then it opened, revealing a short, curvy, freckled ginger girl in a pale green nightie.

"River? You alright then?"

River nodded, a bit doubtfully, and the girl slipped into the room, quietly closing the door behind her and crossing to River's bed. She sat on the edge of it and looked into the older woman's face. "I don't want to intrude on your privacy, River, but how long has this been going on? I know I've heard you at least three nights this week alone, and if you weren't at the end of the corridor I've no doubt the rest of the students would've been in here long since." River shook her head and the girl looked at her with affectionate exasperation. "River. I'm a psychiatric nursing student. I can tell when someone I've come to care about is scared half to death. Tell me."

The older woman shook her head again. "I don't know, Evie, I can't remember. I just wake up screaming and I can't remember!" She shuddered and rested her forehead on her knees, and then started as the younger woman put a friendly hand on her shoulder.

"River... if a simple pat from someone you know as well as you know me makes you jump, you need more help than I can give you. Maybe you need a doctor."

River nodded thoughtfully. "Perhaps I do..."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

The Doctor watched the pair on the monitor. The girl - Evie? - and River clearly had a personal relationship, and he wondered if this girl was the first real friend River had had besides Amy and Rory, who were after all her parents. River looked tired and strained, and Evie soothed her with the combination of bullying and cajolery that in his experience was the mark of a good nurse. At least River was in good hands, even if Sexy wouldn't bring him to her. There must be some reason for that, but he was rather put out at the old girl's attitude. When he wanted to see River, she was not taking him to her, and when he wasn't thinking particularly about River, the old girl would take him to Stormcage, or to wherever River was at the time.

He'd tried not thinking of River, deliberately. It didn't work.

Because after Berlin, she was on his mind all the time. And all the time was a fairly profound thing for a Time Lord. She was there in the back of his mind, smiling at him and calling him Sweetie, and that kiss, the one at Stormcage, and she'd killed him, yeah, but that hadn't been her fault and she'd brought him back of her own volition and her hair, so bouncy and her eyes in that lovely greenish shade and... and... and his mind went on thinking of River even while his eyes noticed that Evie had left River's room (after giving her a fairly lingering kiss goodnight, fifty-second century humans, so cheerfully and innocently sexy always...) and River was settling back to sleep. "Sexy," he pleaded, "She needs me, you heard her. Please?" He heard the TARDIS grumble in his mind and hastened to placate her, "Yes, yes, of course, you take me where I'm needed, but don't you think she needs me?" He got a sense of patience, waiting and had to be satisfied with that as he continued to watch River sleep.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

No, you can't! Stay away from me! It - the thing - it reached toward her, and the electricity arcing out of its mitten-like hands came closer and closer to her head. She was very small and she felt even smaller compared to it and it was coming nearer and no, no, nononononooooo!

It wasn't a scream this time, not yet, it was instead a low and frightened moan, and the Doctor pounded on the console of his TARDIS and shouted at his old girl to let him help her, "Please, Old Girl, take me to her, please, please, please, she needs me, she needs us, you and me, please!" The TARDIS simply opened her doors and there she was, River, tossing and turning and mumbling in little terrified whispers. The Doctor carefully closed the doors of the invisible time machine and turned toward the bed, his youthful face looking ancient as he neared it, repeating her name gently, "River. River, listen to me. River, it's just a dream, you're alright, just a dream, my River, my lovely River Song, Melody P-"

And she sat up with a gasp, shaking like a leaf, eyes open wide and staring at nothing, and he gathered her unresisting form into his arms and sat on the bed, rocking them both and crooning nonsense at her, and finally the tremors eased and she began to cry. "Oh now, sweet River Song, don't cry, love, I've got you... you're alright now, you're safe with me..." But she sobbed silently against his chest, and gradually she snuggled trustingly into his arms and let herself be soothed by the sound of his double heartbeat. "There you go, River, you're alright, safe here with me. You're okay, okay and safe." Eventually even the crying subsided and she was asleep again. So the Doctor lay back, nestling her more firmly against his chest, and hoped that his presence would keep the nightmares at bay.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

There was no answer when Evie tapped softly on River's door. She didn't want to intrude, but she was very worried about the older woman; those were not ordinary nightmares River was experiencing, and Evie hoped to take her to the psychiatric clinic at the University... if River would allow it. Sometimes River was touchy about her privacy and she didn't really like to talk about herself. Evie bit her lower lip with concern and tried the door. Well, it's unlocked, she thought, so she must be okay with me coming in. She eased the door open quietly in case River was still asleep; a good long nap uninterrupted by nightmares would do the older woman a galaxy of good.

River was still asleep. But curled protectively around her was a long and lean man who looked to be about Evie's age - mid-twenties - though he was dressed in that retro-academic style favored by some of the older professors. Fully dressed, she noted, and wondered why he was in bed with River while still wearing a tweed jacket, a shirt, braces, jeans, socks, and a bowtie. There was a pair of shoes lined up neatly by the bed and a fedora hung jauntily on one bedpost. He smiled at her and put one finger to his lips to indicate quiet and then beckoned her into the room as he sat up and put the hat on. She closed the door carefully behind her and sat warily on the edge of the bed opposite him, River's sleeping body between them. "Hello, Evie," he said in a low tone, "Nice to meet you."

Her bright blue eyes widened. "How do you know my name?"

"You're River's friend. A good friend," he responded, looking amused as though it should be obvious how he knew her. "She cares about you and therefore so do I." He smiled at her again and some clinical part of her noticed that the smile did not quite reach his eyes. If she read him right, he was very worried about River - he sort of hovered - and that made him an ally. She relaxed as he continued, "How long has she been having these nightmares, do you know?"

"Weeks now, three or four times a week. That I could hear anyway. Did she have another dream last night after I left? Before you got here?" She didn't notice that her voice was rising until River stirred and the young man put a finger to his lips again. "Sorry," she continued in a lower tone, "Anyway, the walls here are pretty thick; I don't think anyone else heard her because she's at the end of the hall. But if she didn't scream... I wouldn't have heard her either. I didn't hear you come in. Did she have another last night after I left?" He nodded soberly and she sighed. "Is there anything I can do? Call a doctor maybe? I work in the student clinic..."

"He is a doctor," River said suddenly from between them, eyes still shut, "He's my doctor. And he's also a very old friend of the family, he and his old girl. Hello, Sweetie." She smiled and opened her eyes, and Evie watched the smile finally reach his eyes as he helped River to a sitting position. "You and Sexy came to help me?" she asked him, and he nodded and kissed her on the forehead. This was clearly not a simple doctor/patient relationship, but River was so close-mouthed that she'd never mentioned she had a special friend, except to assure Evie she was free of disease before their first time together. Evie was a popular and giving lover, but she'd never had anyone look at her the way this man was looking at River. She cleared her throat, and they both finally tore their eyes away from each other to look at her.

"Hello, Doctor...?" she said inquiringly, wondering what his name was, and he grinned at her.

"That's me, the Doctor."

"Doctor Who?"

"Just the Doctor."

She looked at him for a long moment, and then at River. "Do you trust him?" she demanded.

"I absolutely trust him," River said simply.

"He's not just some madman then?"

"Um... I absolutely trust him." The man known as the Doctor coughed suddenly and Evie suspected he was stifling a laugh. She decided she liked him, if for no other reason than how he looked at River, as if River was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen.

"Right," Evie said, standing up and rubbing her hands together. "She's having nightmares, you're her doctor, I'm a psychiatric nurse and I'm done with my training; all I need is to finish my dissertation and I'll be fully qualified. How can I help?"

"Well," the Doctor said slowly, looking flustered and waving his hands around vaguely, "I don't really think you can, you know, the technique requires a certain... ah... intimacy... that I don't think you could-"

"Oh, I'm trained in all forms of sexual therapy," she assured him, "I got top marks in Sex and Therapy classes..." She trailed off as River laid a hand on her arm, amusement dancing in her eyes.

"Darling Evie, you are so sweet. But he's not talking about sex, he's..." she looked at the Doctor and got a very slight nod, "he's talking about a psychic link between us and a... a specific third party, and you don't have the training. Neither do I as it happens, but our connection is... deeper than that."

"But you said 'sexy' was here with him to help you. Is sexy a trained psychic? And not with sex therapy? I'm confused." Evie looked from one to the other, perplexed. And River finally began to laugh.

"We'll just have to give her the York Notes version of our relationship, my love," River said, turning to the Doctor and capturing one of the hands still fluttering about, then kissing it. "It's far simpler than trying to talk around it. This is the fifty-second century after all, and Evie's fairly open-minded even for them." She waited until he nodded and then continued, "D'you want to take it or shall I? I think she's going to burst if we don't explain soon." She nodded at the younger woman, who was tapping her foot impatiently, hands on hips.

"I'll do it," he said, and turned to Evie. "Let me know if I go too fast for you. I do that sometimes."

"Alright," she said with some asperity, "I will. And I intend to ask questions." She looked at him expectantly, making a get-on-with-it gesture with one hand. He smiled faintly and began.

"Right, first off, I'm not human." He paused, clearly waiting for her to say you look human and then he could say no, you look Time Lord, but she didn't, and he was a bit disappointed. He loved that bit; it was almost as much fun as it's bigger on the inside. "Okay, so, I'm a Time Lord, and-"

"I thought the Time Lords were a myth!" He suddenly looked ancient to Evie; his face was still young, but his eyes...

"Yes," the Doctor said a bit hoarsely, "We very nearly are. It's just me left." He choked and River put her arms around him consolingly, patting his back. There were tears in her eyes as she looked at Evie.

"And me, sort of," she said, arms still around the Doctor. "His ship - the TARDIS, also known as 'Sexy' or 'Old Girl' - she's a... a living ship, a sentient being in her own right, and she... how shall I put it? She exists in something like eleven different dimensions, where humans exist in only six. Am I going too fast?" Evie gulped a bit, but shook her head. She hadn't meant to hurt him, and that must have shown on her face, because River said, "It's alright, Evie, you didn't do anything wrong." She released the Doctor and looked him full in the face, then kissed him. "Your turn, Sweetie," she said, and smiled at him.

He returned the smile and looked at Evie, patting the edge of the bed and inviting her to sit. "So... where were we...? Oh yes, right, so I'm er... quite old, actually, around nine hundred or so, in Earth years." Evie gulped again, but kept quiet. "And as a rule I travel with human companions to... well, to..."

"To keep you from being too arrogantly Time Lord for your own good," supplied River, and smirked at him.

"Er, yes. Right. Anyway, I was traveling with this couple - lovely couple, really, the Ponds - and they er... well, how was I to know, they don't put up a balloon and..."

"What he's trying to say," put in River, "is that I was conceived in that ship, in the matrix of an eleventh-dimensional living ship, and therefore I'm, well, part Time Lord. Time Lady. Mostly human, but..." she spread her hands in a shrug as Evie began to laugh.

"That... his archaic embarrassment about normal sex... has convinced me more than anything. You're really not from around here, are you?" she said to the Doctor, grinning at him. "But I would like to see this ship if I may. Is it in orbit?" She looked expectantly from one to the other and the Doctor shrugged and took a small metal cylinder from an inside pocket of his tweed jacket. He twisted one end of it and it lit up, and when he waved it in the direction of a corner of the room, something appeared there. Evie stared. "It's... may I touch it?" The Doctor nodded. Evie walked around the bed to the - was it wooden? - blue box and gingerly touched it with one finger. She looked at the Doctor, laid the palm of her hand flat on the surface of the box, and said, "Okay, this is even more convincing." Her voice shook and she shook her head as if to clear it. "Right, then, can I see the inside?" The Doctor covered the hand she had on the box with his and for a moment his expression was distant. Aha! the clinical part of Evie's mind thought, he's talking to it! Then his face cleared and he held out a hand to each of the women.

"Come on, let's go see her," he said, his face boyish again, and led them through the doors.

Welcome, Evie felt in her mind, along with a killer headache. But she didn't seem to mind the pain, because this was... this was amazing. She looked around her and was somehow unsurprised to see the size of the room she was in, all soft curves and glowing panels and weird little retro knobs and levers. She looked at River across the Doctor's lanky form. "Is it - she - is she always like this? This is..." she trailed off breathlessly and just stared around her in wonder some more.

"She didn't say it," pouted the Doctor at River, and she smiled at him, drawing him down for a kiss. Evie was vaguely aware of him dropping her hand as he turned toward River, but she was too entranced by this fantastic ship to protest. She wandered around, trailing her fingertips over railings and chairs, being very careful not to touch any of what looked like controls. She likes me, Evie thought, and that's... that's lovely. She was startled when the Doctor spoke by her left elbow. "No psychic training," he said, "but your empathy rating must be remarkable. It's what makes you a good nurse. Most humans can't understand Sexy at all, even with the headache, we should do a study, you and Rory and Jack probably all have high empathy, and... what?" This last was to River, who had taken his hand.

"Nothing," she said fondly, and kissed him. Evie wondered if they had any idea how sweet they were together. She suspected not, and resolved to find herself a bedmate or two for tonight, since this pair had inspired her and they obviously had eyes only for each other... at least for now. Maybe that new man, she thought, the one who calls himself Boe. He looks like he could be a good lover and if not, I can teach him.

"I know one way I can help," she said, interrupting another longing look between them, "I can call River in sick, excuse her from classes for a few days, make sure you pair - the three of you - have some privacy to deal with the nightmares." River shuddered slightly and Evie gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, River, but it's the only way I can think of to help, since you won't go for my specialty." She leered at them both in a friendly and teasing fashion, and was a bit relieved that the Doctor smiled back at her. Ah! she thought, it's not lack of interest or actual prudery, he's just... shy about it. "So come on," she continued, "I need to use your holophone." And she left them standing in the TARDIS.

The Doctor looked down at River. "She's a good person," he said, and smiled.

"Everyone I care for is a good person, Doctor," said River, and kissed him.