Post-Doom Coalition. Read Crossing All The Lines first, or this won't make much sense.

Being happy is a strange thing.

Or at least, it is for Liv Chenka, who has spent so much of her life knee deep in hardship and misery.

Travelling with the Doctor is the best thing that could have happened to her, really. Living a quiet life, all content, is not something that could ever satisfy Liv. But being out in all of the adventure? Running around and helping people? Getting to see beautiful things and meet wonderful people?

Liv had forgotten the true feeling of hope, and its warmth, until recently. It's a relief now, to have it back.

It's always strongest when she looks at Helen.

If the universe can produce someone like Helen Sinclair - someone kind and earnest and brilliant, who tries so hard, all the time - then that's a universe worth believing in.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Liv blinks, and realises that she's been staring. In her defense, they're on a beach and Helen is in a swimsuit and has the sun shining in her hair, and how the hell was Liv not meant to get distracted by that?

It's not even a skimpy swimsuit. It's more conservative than anything Liv's ever seen, looking more like a very short minidress than anything else, but it is still form fitting and shows off more of Helen's legs than Liv has ever seen before.

"I dunno. How was I looking at you?" Liv asks.

Helen lifts an eyebrow. "I don't know. Weird. If I didn't know any better, I'd say sappy."

"Well, it's a good thing you know better then," Liv says, but she can't quite keep the smile from her face, and Helen smiles back, tucking her hair behind her ear with an endearing uncertainty.

"Seriously, Liv, why won't you come and swim?"

"I'm just… not comfortable with it, alright?" Liv replies. "Please don't ask me again."

Helen considers her for a moment, plainly still confused and not sure what to do about it, before sighing with resignation. "Well, alright. I don't want to force you to do anything you really don't want to do."

"Thanks."

Helen looks back to the water's edge, where the Doctor is calling her. "I'll see you in a bit, then?"

"Yeah. You have fun, I might go for a walk."

"Good plan."

Liv gets up, watches Helen reach the water, and smiles again, before putting her hands in her pockets and heading off to walk along the tree line at the top of the beach.

She's walked for about five minutes when she hears a familiar crackle in the air.

"Fancy seeing you here."

Liv whirls around to see Professor Malone - no, River Song, her name is River Song - leaning against a tree and smirking at her in that unfairly attractive way. (Never in her whole life, had Liv encountered anyone else she had been so incredibly irritated about being attracted to.)

"What are you doing here?" Liv asks, not caring about how rude she sounds.

River doesn't seem deterred. "Where's Helen?"

"With the Doctor, down by the water."

River looks rather disappointed for a moment, only to perk right up again. "Oh well, that's alright, it'll just have to be the two of us, then, like back in Prague. Such fun."

Before Liv can ask what she means, or argue, River's grabbed her by the arm, and then they're travelling through space without a capsule, and Liv wants to be sick. She almost is, as they arrive and the world stops spinning a little.

A new world, which is definitely not the nice tropical island world the Doctor had brought Helen and Liv to. This one smells of industry, smoke filling the dark purple sky above them, and dark red brick buildings lining the streets.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Liv demands. "You can't just nip around time and space, dragging me wherever you like without a single explanation or so much as a 'please'!"

"Are you saying you don't want to help me steal a priceless artifact?" River asks, lifting an eyebrow.

"Yes!" Liv says, hotly. "Why the hell would I want to do that?"

River shrugs. "Well, I had hoped that Helen would be along for the ride too. She already knows how much fun being naughty with me can be, I'd planned for her to convince you into it."

Liv snorts. "Well, you cocked that one right up, didn't you?"

River doesn't look massively bothered, which is really the most worrying part. She gives Liv a little grin. "It's alright. I'm good at thinking on my feet. And I think you'll find that I can be very persuasive."

The last sentence rolls off her tongue with the level of smooth suggestion that shouldn't really be legal. (Then again, this damned woman doesn't seem to give a damn about any kind of legality, so it hardly matters.)

Liv does her best to remain unaffected, but decides that River's brand of persuasion sounds dangerous, and that she might just be best going along with whatever sort of heist this is, for now.

"Alright, fine, I'll help you," Liv says, sighing.

River beams. "Lovely."

They're breaking into a museum, which makes sense given that River is an archaeologist, and luckily the security seems fairly low tech. It doesn't seem to be an overly sophisticated planet in general, from what Liv can make out.

Liv is on lookout while River breaks into the vault. (Getting down to the vault hadn't been too difficult, but there had been a close enough call that had had Liv's heart pounding for a few moments. Luckily, the security here really does seem to leave a fair bit to be desired.)

"So what are we stealing and why are we stealing it?" Liv asks.

"I have a point to make," River says, shrugging.

Liv gives her a weird look. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I got into an argument with an anthropology professor at the semi-annual humanities department party for my university," River says with a large sigh and a roll of her eyes, "and I've taken an extended detour from said party, in order to acquire exactly the piece of evidence I need to prove once and for all that he's completely wrong, and reassert my position as the mysterious but unwaveringly dominant member of the faculty."

"Are you serious?" Liv asks, only to shake her head. "Who am I kidding, of course you're serious, you're just as bad as the Doctor! Maybe you are his type after all."

River laughs, in that deep, throaty way that does things to Liv. "If you ever doubted it, Liv, then you still don't know him quite as well as you think. Or me, for that matter."

"I know the Doctor well enough," Liv retorts. "I never pretended to have any real idea about you, other than what I'd witnessed with my own eyes."

"Would you like to know me better?" River asks, voice low and smooth while her eyes sparkle with dark promise.

Liv swallows. "Flirting won't make me trust you."

"No, but it's ever so fun to watch you wrestle with your obvious attraction to me like that," River replies, chuckling as she turns her gaze back to the safe's lock, while Liv resists the urge to splutter and deny everything.

"You're so full of it."

"Yes, but not without reason, generally. Notice how you're not denying anything I've said?"

"You're insufferable, has anyone ever told you that?" Liv asks. "I've got no idea why Helen seems to have such a soft spot for you."

River lifts an eyebrow. "Well, that rather seems to be something you should discuss with Helen. She might have a few interesting things to say on the subject."

Liv finds her curiosity piqued. She'd suspected Helen and River - briefly, and more out of stinging anger and a sense of betrayal than anything else - of having some kind of… entanglement. She's not forgotten how Helen's cheeks had burned at the question, but there had been a kind of sincerity in Helen's rejection of it.

Helen is even less immune to River's charms than Liv, Liv suspects. But then, Helen is from a conservative time, and the one time Liv had mentioned something about possible attraction to a woman, Helen had gone scarlet and fervently denied it.

Liv had wanted to take the topic up with her properly, sensing a need for education on the subject, but there had never been any time. Their lives had been so caught up in the Eleven and doomsday nonsense from the moment they'd met, they'd barely had a chance to breathe.

And when they'd found Helen, after it was all over, Helen had kissed Liv, apparently over the reservations of her time. Well, not completely. After the first time, she'd still been a bit shy about it, but it's been endearing for the most part.

"I know this isn't really something that was done in your time, at least not in public," Liv had said to her, one time when she'd put her hand on Helen's leg only to have Helen start at the touch. "Two women together, that is. So we can take it slowly. I'd like to take it slowly, I'm severely out of practice myself."

Helen had smiled softly, cheeks flushing. "Yes, I'd… I'd like that too."

Taking things slow with Helen had been wonderful, so far. But now, Liv can't help but wonder if River is the reason for Helen's growth on the subject, and just how much River had helped her in that area. She doesn't know enough about how much time they spent together, or how they spent it.

Liv isn't sure she's happy about the idea. It's not jealousy - or rather, it is, but not a petty kind. It's more that it's River, who Liv doesn't trust. If Helen wanted to get gooey eyed over someone good and trustworthy, Liv could deal with that and still be confident about where she lies in Helen's affections.

But River is anomalous, and the thought of Helen harbouring any feelings for her fills Liv with unease.

Liv is so lost in thought that she doesn't even realise it until the cranking of the opening vault brings her back to the present. So much for her being a decent lookout. Luckily, no one has approached from either fork in the corridor.

"Are you coming?" River calls.

"I'd prefer to keep watch," Liv replies.

Sure enough, about ten seconds later, a guard rounds the corner at the end of the corridor and his eyes lock with Liv's.

"The game's up," Liv shouts, hurrying to join River in the vault, "you'd better have found what you were after!"

River is busy pocketing a small scroll. "Of course. Now, what do you think, should we get out of here?"

"Obviously!"

River grabs her hand, but the vortex manipulator does nothing, much to the dismay of both of them. River blinks at it and laughs nervously.

"Looks like their system is a bit higher tech than I thought," she says, "it's drained the power."

"Then what the hell are we going to do?" Liv asks, as the guard runs into the vault and draws his weapon, issuing the expected threats about what's going to happen when they're caught.

River shrugs. "The only thing we can, I suppose." She lunges for the guard before he can react, disarming him and flipping him onto the floor with ease, laughing at the surprised look on his face as she dangles his blaster from her finger as she leans over him.

"Wow," Liv says, impressed and once again far more turned on than she would prefer to be.

"Come on, dear, we'd best be going," River says to Liv, who bristles at the irritating endearment but follows her out regardless, because there's nothing else she can do. "I can hear more guards coming."

"Are we seriously about to fight our way out of the museum? I know you're good, but are you that good?"

"I am, but not when I have someone else's neck to look out for," River admits, "hence why that isn't the plan. Follow me. I always have a backup."

She hurries Liv to a panel on the wall, whips out a bloody sonic trowel of all things to get it open, and pushes Liv inside the revealed ventilation shaft, following her and shutting the panel behind them as best she can.

"This should get us out, if I remember the schematics," River tells her. "Now get crawling."

The ventilation shaft comes out in the main hall, so timing their drop is a little tricky, but they manage it and hurry into a supply cupboard for cover, so that they might evaluate how to get to the door.

"There's still too many up here, we can't get away with it, there's only a few people in the museum and they're all busy looking very alarmed," Liv says as she peers through the door.

"Don't worry, I'm thinking, I've gotten out of far worse scrapes than this," River replies.

"Oh no, someone's headed towards the cupboard, they might have heard us or seen me peeking out of the door-"

River gets up from the crate she had been sitting on and crosses to Liv. "Don't worry. I have an idea. Just play along."

A few moments before the guard reaches the door, River takes Liv's face in her hands and kisses her soundly, making Liv freeze with alarm. But then the door opens, and Liv remembers why this is happening, and is quick to kiss River back in order to make their bluff seem convincing. It only takes a few moments, however, for Liv to forget that this is an attempt to look innocent, because dear god can River Song kiss.

She might well be the most infuriating woman in the universe, but she's gorgeous, and Liv has never been immune to that, and now her soft lips are against Liv's and her tongue is licking into her mouth eagerly.

All at once, Liv is against the nearest shelf and she's gripping River's arms, and River's knee slides between her thighs in just the right way, and Liv can't stop the little moan that escapes her.

"Oi!" the guard exclaims. "You can't be in here, and you definitely can't be in here doing that."

River pulls away, eyes dancing, out of breath in a way that suits her. "Sorry, just couldn't help ourselves. Newly engaged, you know."

The guard rolls his eyes. "Well, we're trying to conduct a security sweep, so if you could get out of here and make my job easier, I'd appreciate it."

"Of course," River says smoothly, "come along, darling. We can continue this in private."

Liv, cheeks burning, lets herself be tugged by the hand out of the cupboard and then the museum. They make their way down the street as innocuously as possible, and River throws her head back and laughs.

"Oh, that was fun. I do love it when you can convince them to let you walk right out the doors. So much more satisfying." She throws Liv a wink. "Getting to kiss you wasn't half bad either."

"You could have asked," Liv grumbles, like it hadn't been one of the best moments in the last half-decade of her life.

"Would you like me to?" River asks, blinking at her with an innocence which is not remotely convincing. "I could, you know."

"No," Liv stammers. "Shut up. Just take me back to the beach, alright?"

"I can't, until my manipulator's charged up again," River tells her, with a slither of what might be genuine apology. "Sorry, this wasn't part of the plan."

"Well, how long will it take?"

"About twelve hours, with a bit of tinkering to get it going," River says. "I need somewhere to work, though, and we'll need somewhere to rest. There's a little hotel up there, I'm sure that'll work."

There's only one room left. Of course there's only one room left. It really does feel the universe is having a serious laugh at Liv's entire situation right now.

The room is small, too small for Liv's liking, with the double bed taking up half of the floor space. River is taking up the rest, sitting fiddling with the wiring in the manipulator and doing something to it all with her weird sonic.

"Do you really have to frown so much?" River asks, without looking up from her work.

Liv, who is sitting on the bed, frowns even more deeply. "How did you know I was frowning?"

"It's audible."

Liv rolls her eyes. She doesn't bother replying, and waits in silence until River lets out a pleased hum and places the manipulator on the small set of drawers that are near the bed.

"There we are, about eleven hours, I should think," River says, smiling. "And then I'll have you back to the beach for the moment you left, promise."

"You'd better," Liv says, fixing her with a look.

River drops onto the bed next to her, grinning. "I like it when you're all stern. It suits you. Very attractive. Especially when it falters when I start flirting with you."

"If your goal here is to make me uncomfortable, congratulations, you're succeeding tremendously," Liv snaps.

River stretches out, giving her a bit more space. "I can assure you, that's the exact opposite of my goal." She makes a face. "Well, alright, that's not strictly true. I do love watching you squirm. But really, I'd like nothing more than to make you… comfortable."

She looks at Liv with those dark, alluring eyes, so full of promise. Her hand reaches out to touch Liv's leg, just for a moment and Liv swallows, hard.

"I know exactly what you want," Liv replies, getting up from the bed to get away from her. "You could speak plainly for once in your life, you know, I don't need all the innuendo, I'm not an idiot."

"I never thought you were," River says seriously. "It's just how I am, I'm afraid. I know it isn't always ideal, but I've never really worked out how to be any other way, when I'm not with my husband."

"The Doctor."

"Yes."

"Does he know you're off trying to seduce his old companions?"

"No, but I'll likely mention it to him when I next see an appropriate version of him," River says mildly, lifting an eyebrow. "There are a lot of secrets in my marriage, Liv, but non-consensual infidelity isn't one of them, I can assure you. He gets up to all sorts too, you know."

"I suppose he would," Liv says, "though he's never actually struck me as particularly interested in that sort of thing at all."

"It's rarer for him, than a lot of people, but it does happen. Me, the Master-"

"The Master?" Liv asks, horrified. "What? Are you trying to say that-"

"Ooh, you should probably forget I said that," River says, making a face. "That's all a bit complicated and not really any of my business."

"But-"

"Anyway, I believe I was trying to seduce you, or you were accusing me of as much, anyway."

"You might as well save your breath," Liv tells her, scowling.

"Why exactly are you so opposed to the idea?" River asks, lifting an eyebrow. "Not to seem pushy, only it really seemed like you were interested, back in that cupboard. You gave me quite the kiss."

"I don't trust you."

"But you want me."

"That means close to nothing," Liv says, frowning. "You're an unknown element, and I can't let my guard down just because of something as ridiculous as lust-"

"Liv, when was the last time you let yourself relax?"

Liv stares at River, who is now looking at her with a kind of concern. "I - I was relaxing at the beach."

"You were not," River laughs. "You were tightly wound even then. You always seem to be gripping control with an iron fist. You have to be on your guard, physically and emotionally, you have to know what's going on, all the time." River gets up from the bed and approaches her. "Aren't you exhausted?"

Liv feels a kind of horror in her gut as she realises that River is right. She's exhausted. All she's ever tried to do is keep a tight grip, keep control of whatever is around her, no matter what.

"I know you don't trust me," River says slowly. "But you know my biggest secret. You know who I am - you could destroy the timeline, destroy my entire life, with a few choice words to the Doctor. You have every power over me, when it comes down to it. This isn't a trick, this is me standing in front of you and telling you that I think you're wonderful and that I want to help you."

"Help me?"

"Help you relax," River says, holding her gaze. "Help you let go, for once."

"Oh," Liv murmurs.

"And now that you understand exactly what I'm offering, that's the last I'll say on it," River adds. "Let it not be said that I won't take no for an answer - I just knew that you didn't understand my intentions, and now you do, and that's that. Tell me no again and I'll drop it forever."

Liv licks her lips. "And if I don't?"

River smiles. "Then I'll give you whatever help I can."

Liv stares at her, wondering if this is a huge mistake. River is wild and unpredictable and almost certainly not trustworthy - but Helen seems to think she is, and isn't Helen's opinion worth something?

She can barely remember the last time she had sex. It's been years. She's been so busy. The fact that it's being offered to her now, by someone as gorgeous as River Song, is beyond intoxicating.

"Alright," Liv says. "Impress me."

River smiles, and steps forward until there's only an inch between their bodies, and no space at all between Liv and the wall. River's hands push Liv's hair out of her face as she leans in close enough for her breath to hit Liv's cheek.

Liv can't help but still be tense. It's been too long since she was intimate with anyone. Things with Helen have been okay, because they've been slow and she trusts Helen completely. This is River, however, and couldn't be more different.

"Are you sure you want this?" River asks quietly, eyes flicking over Liv's stiff form.

Liv bites her lip, and nods. All the emotions she's ever had regarding River Song, mostly consisting of annoyance and arousal and adrenaline, come rushing through her. She grabs River and pulls her into a firm kiss, gripping her hips tightly.

River moans against her mouth a little, eagerly responding.

"Now there's the Liv Chenka I've been wanting to play with," she purrs with delight.

"You know, one day I might just fuck that smug look off your face," Liv retorts, yanking River's body against hers and making her let out a little gasp of surprise.

But then River laughs. "Oh, Liv, I'd love to see you try. But today, I'm taking care of you, remember?" She presses Liv more firmly into the wall, and slips her thigh between Liv's so that she can apply pressure in just the right place to make Liv gasp. "There we are."

"You're hands down the most infuriating person I've ever met," Liv seethes.

"You flatter me, dear," River says, grinning. She kisses Liv again, roughly, and Liv is torn between fighting for control and giving in. She doesn't want to give in, not to River Song, but isn't that why she agreed?

She's so tired.

Liv lets her body relax as she kissed River back, lets herself melt into the touch, and braces herself for the inevitable smug victory comment she'll get from River. Except, when she opens her eyes, River isn't smug. There's a smile on her lips, a triumphant one, but it's softer.

"There we are," she says, eyes warm, before she kisses Liv again.

Her hand goes to Liv's waistband, slides under it, and Liv gasps a little at the intimate touch, at how River's fingers prove to be expert at finding exactly where to touch Liv to make her knees turn to jelly.

It's funny, since if Liv is being completely honest with herself, she's had a couple of sex dreams involving River, and they don't remotely compare to the reality. She's not sure exactly what it is about being fucked against a wall and kissed within an inch of her life by this mad, infuriating woman, but it's easily the most erotic thing that's happened to her in her entire life.

"You're gorgeous like this," River tells her, murmuring into the skin of her jaw, "free, for the first time since I've met you."

"For the first time since I can remember," Liv replies, a breathy moan escaping her when River curls her fingers. "Oh, gods, River, please-"

River doesn't play games with her, like Liv had feared she might. She kisses Liv sweetly and strokes Liv just so, and then Liv is undone and possibly crying, and River holds her tight and kisses her neck.

"I know," she murmurs, "it can be a lot."

"I didn't know you were like this," Liv says quietly, letting herself be held as her body comes down from the high and she catches her breath.

"Like what?"

"Kind. Sweet. I dunno."

"It's a closely guarded secret, I'm trusting you," River says seriously, pulling back to regard Liv with twinkling eyes.

Liv finds herself laughing, and wiping embarrassedly at her teary eyes. "It's safe with me, I promise."

"I'm glad."

"Now, get these ridiculously tight trousers off, it's your turn," Liv says, reaching for the fastenings of River's trousers only to have her hands stopped.

"Not yet," River says, eyes sparkling. "I'm not done with you."

"What do you mean-" Before Liv can quite get all the words out, River is on her knees, pulling Liv's trousers down and pushing her knees apart so that her mouth can take Liv completely by surprise. "Oh."

River laughs against her, and goes about making sure that Liv forgets how to think entirely, for quite a while.

They return to the beach, and Liv peeks out of the trees to see Helen in the water with the Doctor. Everything is good. Things are back to how they should be.

"Well, thanks," Liv says, as she looks back to River. She isn't sure what else to say. "The kidnapping and forcing me to be an accomplice in a crime part wasn't great, but… the other stuff was… good."

"Only good?" River asks, eyebrows up, grinning. "I might need to come back and make another effort."

Liv finds herself grinning too. "Shut up, or I just might take you up on that."

"A girl can dream."

Liv glances back to the shore. "I should… probably go."

"Probably, yes," River agrees.

"I'm assuming you're planning to drop in and see me and Helen again," Liv says, before making a face. "I'm going to have to tell Helen about this. I didn't really think about it at the time, but I'm fairly sure the time she's from is used to monogamy, and we've not really talked about it, I really should have talked to her before I-"

"Talk to her, before you panic, sweetie," River tells her, gently. "She might surprise you, in more ways than one."

Liv looks at her curiously, that old suspicious poking its head up again. "What do you mean?"

"You'll find out soon enough." River leans in and kisses the corner of her mouth. "Until the next time, Liv."

She disappears in a flash of light, leaving Liv conflicted and confused.

Liv waits until they're back on the TARDIS, and she and Helen are alone, the Doctor off tinkering somewhere and not paying them any mind.

"I have to tell you something," Liv says, interrupting something Helen had been saying about purple starfish. They're in the library, and Liv is sitting on one of the couches while Helen is standing a few metres away.

Helen stops talking about alien sea fauna, and blinks at her. "Oh? Tell me what?"

"I saw River, today."

"River? River Song?" Helen stares at her, an unfathomable look in her eyes as she regards Liv, who nods. "How can you have seen River?"

"She materialised in the forest, stole me away before I could even do anything," Liv says, frowning. "She wanted both of us, but you were with the Doctor, so she settled for just me. She needed my help stealing an artefact from some museum."

Helen lets out a funny little laugh. "Yes, that sounds like her."

"Well, then we got stuck, the security system drained her transport device, and so we had to wait for it to recharge."

"Alright, and…?" Helen looks at her expectantly.

Liv swallows. "And… I had sex with her."

Helen's face transforms into one of complete astonishment. "I'm sorry?"

Liv feels instantly guilty, curses herself for having acted so rashly, hates herself for not quite regretting it. "I'm so sorry, Helen, it's just that we never talked about if whatever this is between us is monogamous, and I forgot that was what you're used to, so I didn't even think about it, I just… it just happened-"

"I just… I can't believe it," Helen says quietly, looking at her with horror. "You had sex with River Song-"

"I'm really am sorry, Helen-"

"... without me?!"

Liv stops. Blinks. Frowns. Wonders if her ears have started malfunctioning. Decides she definitely had heard that right, and stares at her girlfriend, who looks extremely put out.

"Um," Liv says, dumbfounded, "so that's not the reaction I was expecting."

Helen, to Liv's further surprise, becomes rather sheepish. "Yes, um… Liv, there's probably something I should tell you..."

I don't know why I get this idea about Liv being hydrophobic, but I just do.

Anyway, thank you for reading, let me know what you thought! More to come with these three, at some point, they're a lot of fun and I adore them. :')