Chapter 1
The Doctor was running around the consol when the phone rang. At first he didn't even realise that it was ringing, so preoccupied on his task. But he eventually answered it when he realised that it was ringing.
'Hello.' He said as he pushed his leg to flip a switch to land the TARDIS.
'Doctor.' The man on the other side said warmly.
'How ya been Jack?' he said as he finally hit the switch.
'We've been ok lately. You know what's been going on lately, but we have a surprise for you here.' Jack said, as he heard the TARDIS land.
'Can it wait like, another 17 seconds?' The Doctor asked. 'I was just about to say Congratulations to Craig and Sophie, and pick up Amy and Rory from their honeymoon.'
'I wish it could Doc, but it's kinda an emergency.' Jack stated.
'Right.' The Doctor paused, rubbing his nose. 'Big intergalactic emergency, Earth is about to die emergency or people are in danger emergency?' he asked.
'None.' Jack paused for a second. 'But there's a woman here, and she keeps calling for you, well that's what me and Gwen think.'
'Right, I'll skip Amy and Rory, and Craig and Sophie, and I'll be there . . .' He paused, confused. 'What's the date?'
'June 30th 2010.' Jack told him.
'Right, thanks, I'll be right there.' The Doctor said, musing on who the woman could be as he hung up the phone and programmed the TARDIS to travel to Torchwood.
'Jack.' The Doctor yelled as he walked into the Torchwood Hub.
'Doctor?' Jack yelled back. 'We're in the infirmary.'
The Doctor walked to the infirmary instead of yelling back, and grinned as he saw Jack.
'Heya Jack.' He grinned softly, to which Jack grinned lecherously.
'I like this.' Jack stated as his eyes roved over the Doctor.
'I like it too, slimmer than my last, not as tall either.' He said happily before turning serious. 'Right then, where's this girl that keeps calling me?'
Jack slimed genuinely before shaking his head towards the stairs. 'She's down there.'
The Doctor descended the stairs, and looked at the girl, well, woman, lying on the table. He got the impression that he knew her, and he stumbled back once he figured out who it was.
He felt arms pulling at him, as he stumbled over to a sink and retched. 'Doctor.' A voice yelled. 'You need to calm down.' Her voice in his head roared over the other voice and he felt himself hurtling towards the darkness that beckoned to him as he whispered one word. 'River Song.'
Chapter 2
Jack watched as the woman – River Song, the Doctor had called her – instinctively curled towards the Doctor.
The Doctor. Now that brought new problems. Why would this woman in this state make him faint? Jack wondered. Who is she to him?
Jack watched as the Doctor slowly woke up from his faint.
'Hey Doc.' Jack whispered. 'Why'da faint?'
The Doctor blinked and turned his head towards Jack and as soon as they caught eyes, Jack felt a pushing on his mental barriers.
Jack nodded and lowered them, and watched the Doctor and River Song's memories play out in his head.
Memory 1
Jack was standing on the TARDIS, or on what he thought was the TARDIS. If it was, the Doctor had done some serious redecorating.
He watched as the woman ran around the TARDIS consol, and run to the door, open it and say 'Goodbye my love.'
He watched as she repeated the action twice, probably a Time Loop, Jack thought, before the Doctor was there leaning against the TARDIS door grinning. 'Hi Honey, I'm home.'
River Song stood looking at him in mock annoyance. 'And what time do you call this?'
Memory 2
"I dated a Nestine duplicate once- swappable head, did keep things fresh." she let go of the Doctor arm and walked towards the other two people. "Right then, I have questions. But number one is this- what in the name of sanity have you got on your head? She looked up to face the Doctor who merely replied "It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezes are cool." River sighed and took another look at the ugly red thing on his head. She glanced at the other girl, who Jack assumed was Amy, who smiled. Amy ripped it of his head and threw it into the air. River produced a gun and shot it into tiny little pieces.
"Exterminate!"
Jack stared as a Dalek that looked like it was stone, shot at them, and the four of them ran towards a hatch on the floor.
Memory 3
Jack stared at the museum that they were currently standing in, and watched the Doctor and his friends talk about the Big Bang 2, when suddenly
"Exterminate!" the doctor's body illuminated in a bright blue glow and for a second you could see his skeleton.
"River! River get back now!" the other man who Jack assumed was Rory yelled at her, but instead she dropped to the floor next to the Doctor.
"Exterminate!" she looked up just as Rory began to shoot at it with his hand. The Dalek powered down for a few moments. It was long enough.
"Doctor. Doctor it's me, River. Can you hear me?" she laid one hand on the side of his head and the other on his chest, the Doctor struggled to look at her. "What is it? What do you need?" River could hear her voice beginning to break as the Doctor fiddled with the thing on his wrist. In a crack of electricity he disappeared. "Where'd he go? Damn it. He could be anywhere."
"He went downstairs. Twelve minutes ago." Amy looked at the floor, then to Rory who was still poised to shoot.
"Show Me!"
"River, he died." River felt her heart lurch and her face fall.
Jack felt his hearts break, and he thought that the woman felt like that too. But if the Doctor died, how was he still alive now?
"Systems restoring!" the Dalek's cry echoed round the room. "You will be exterminated."
"We have to move. That things coming back to life." Rory's hand began to wobble slightly.
"You go to the Doctor. I'll be right with you." River told them quietly, not taking her eyes from the Dalek. Amy and Rory glanced at her but ran anyway.
"You will be exterminated!" the Dalek began to roll towards her.
"Not yet. Your systems are still restoring. Which means your shield density is compromised." River struggled to control her voice as she began adjusting the settings on her gun. "One Alpha Mezon blast through your eye stalk would kill you stone dead." the gun began to power up.
Ooohhh, she's good. Jack thought.
"Records indicate you will show mercy." the Dalek aimed at her at the same time she aimed at it. "You are an associate of the Doctor's."
Which was, Jack reflected, also true, most of the Doctor's companions wouldn't hurt a fly. He remember Rose when she found a Gallifreyian spider in the bathtub, and had screamed her head off for a good half an hour, before the Doctor had come and scooped it out and moved it to a garden where it would be safe.
River smiled. "I'm River Song. Check your records again." the smile faded from her face as the Dalek re-read it's records.
"Mercy!"
"Say it again."
"Mercy!"
"One more time."
"Mercyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"
Wow. Jack thought shocked. The Dalek is as scared of her as it is of the Doctor.
He watched as she joined Amy and Rory down on a flight of stairs, and Amy asked. 'What happened to the Dalek?'
River Song didn't even look back at her as she replied. 'It died.'
And with that, Jack was thrown from the memories, breathing heavily.
'Well, Doc.' He tried to grin, 'You always pick the scary women.'
The Doctor nodded as River stirred in his arms. 'Thetaaaa.' She moaned. 'You always move your arms into an uncomfortable position.' She groaned in Gallifreyian, as she woke up.
The Doctor laughed, ad replied in the same language. 'Always? Are you giving me spoilers, Doctor Song?'
'Totally.' She said, still in Gallifreyian.
'Hey, folks.' Jack brought the attention to him again. 'Do you mind talking in a language that normal people can understand?'
'The amount of times you heard me swear in it on the TARDIS, and you can't recognise it Jack?' the Doctor raised an eyebrow.
His eyebrows furrowed, trying to recall the language he had just heard. 'Hang on, that was Gallifreyian?'
River Song nodded.
'So what were you doing here?' the Doctor asked her.
'You weren't answering your physic paper or your phone, the only place you told me to get in contact with you was via Torchwood, and I got into a fight in the void.' She explained.
'Only you would get into a fight in the void.' The Doctor groaned.
'Totally, Sweetie.' She grinned.
Chapter 3
The Doctor was working at three computers simultaneously.
'So River.' He called. 'What monsters were you fighting this time?'
'The usual.' She answered as she watched him.
'Stormcage then.' He called back.
'Yeah.' She said.
'Stormcage? That's a prison.' Jack stated. 'You were in Stormcage?' he directed at River.
'I killed someone.' She said without eye contact.
'She won't tell me who she killed though Jack.' The Doctor told him. 'All I know is that it wasn't me and it wasn't you.'
Jack blinked. 'Boy, do you have a seriously messed up relationship.'
The doctor turned to look at him. 'It would help if I knew what our relationship is.'
'You're not dating?' Jack asked surprised.
'Um, I don't know.' The Doctor stated as he turned to look at River.
River looked at the both of them, and sighed. 'Yes, sortof. We're married.'
'Married?' the Doctor shouted, 'And you never told me this?'
'There's no point telling you if we don't get married until your last regeneration is there?' she said.
'Well, no.' He admitted. 'But I saw you die.'
Jack stared as River Song completely paused and turned to look at the Doctor.
'What?' She yelled, breaking the shocked silence.
'In the library.' He said quietly, watching his future wife.
'What library?' she yelled
The Doctor pressed his fingers to his temples, and projected the memory into both of their minds.
'Oh my god!'
Jack found himself swaying as the Doctor's memory evaporated.
Watching that, Jack could understand the Doctor's guardedness around his future wife.
'That's how I'm going to die?' River said numbly.
'You live on River.' The Doctor contradicted. 'Your memory, your brain activity, lives on, in CAL.'
'That's why you gave me your screwdriver.' River realised. 'It had my brain activity on it, and you used it to put my consciousness into CAL.'
'Yes.' The Doctor admitted, and Jack had to admit that it was a good plan.
'You're going to wipe it from my memory.' River stated, as though it was an everyday occurrence. 'Aren't you?'
The Doctor closed his eyes for a second. 'Yes. You can't remember any of this.'
River nodded, before indicating that he could. 'Go on then, wipe it out of my mind, like you did to Donna.'
'How dare you!' Jack growled, in the Doctor's defence. 'He did that to save Donna! He's doing this to help you.'
'No, he is doing this to protect himself.' River yelled. 'If he didn't do this, then he would feel terrible everyday for the rest of his life.'
'You think I don't feel like that everyday anyway?' The Doctor whispered, and both of them heard him, as if he had shouted. 'You think I don't wake up screaming every time I actually fall asleep? I see my people screaming and begging as I killed them. My best friend, she ordered me to kill them all, and I had to follow her order. She was the President! And it wasn't as though Rassilon could stop us once he came into power as he killed her. He didn't know of the order she gave me, and hence he couldn't order me not to. I looked into my mother's eyes as she died, as she gave her life to protect my own! You think that you're the only one that I've lost in the last 2000 years River? The first person I lost was my granddaughter. I lost her way before I left her to her soul mate. She fell in love, had a family, and she died as I held her in my arms as a Dalek cornered us, on Arcadia. Her last act, was to save me, and ask me to save her children. Her two sons and her daughter. Her daughter was too late to save, already thought that she was superior to both me and her mother in all ways, just because her Time Lord genes were stronger, my mother's human genes not being weakened in her genetic make-up. I couldn't save her, and her arrogance got her killed. She was gloating at me. 'You were always weak! Leaving this society was the worst thing you could ever do to this family and the best thing they did was disowning you! We don't need filth like you and Susan ruining this family's good name!' My own family hated me! And I wake up screaming every night because of everything!' He spat towards River. 'And if I didn't wipe the memories out of your mind, I would cause a paradox, which could destroy the universe. So do not accuse me of not caring!'
'So what happened when you're disowned?' Jack broke the heavy and uncomfortable silence.
The Doctor grimaced, while River smiled at how uncomfortable he was. 'He isn't allowed to use his real name that was bestowed to him by the house of Prydon.'
'I can't use the knowledge I acquired during my time in that house against them in a political battle.' The Doctor stated.
'My house was particularly ruthless. They are the house of cunning and will do anything they can to get the things they want. Hence more Presidents have come from this house. Including me.' The Doctor grimaced. 'The Master was part of this house. A cousin chapter from me.'
Jack grinned. 'So you did lie to Martha? He is related to you.'
The Doctor glared at both of them. 'He is a cousin chapter. Hardly any relations, maybe an eighth or so.'
Jack carried on grinning. Signalling to the Doctor that he would hold it against him for a very long time.
'Right River!' he turned to look at her. 'The time before I saw you last, with the Pandorica, that was after the Pandorica, and you were back in Stormcage.'
'Fine! Make me go back there!' she glared playfully. 'I'll see you soon Sweetie.' She said before using her vortex manipulator to change coordinated and disappear.
'You didn't take the memories!' Jack said.
'I did.' The Doctor contradicted. 'Mentally.'
Jack shook his head. 'I'll never understand you.'
'You'll be lucky to.' The Doctor shouted over his shoulder as he stood on the lift. 'See you soon Jack.'
'Yeah, yeah, whatever.' Jack laughed as the Doctor disappeared.