Life Unexpected Chapter 1:
"Smashing Start"
Professor River Song sat on a dark brown couch in the small, ancient artifact cluttered, living room of her house, staring down at her hands. She wore a crisp white button up blouse and black dress pants with black-heeled boots.
"Damn! Damn! Damn!" She cursed under her breath to the silence of her house. Her golden brown curls shook slightly as the words fell from her lips. Her green eyes blazed, as she seemed to drift between intensely focusing on her hands and then trailing off and seeing practically nothing.
River clenched her hands into fist as she felt anger start to boil deep inside her. She was mad at multiple things. First and foremost was her condition. Second was herself. Third was the Doctor.
And what was her condition? Pregnancy, three months along, 12 weeks in fact, with a part Time Lord part Human fetus. When she thought about why she was angry with her condition, with her pregnancy, it wasn't that she was angry with the fetus itself, it wasn't its fault. It didn't decide to be created. No, she was mad just because it was there. It was something that shouldn't have been biologically possible.
It shouldn't have been possible for multiple reasons. The first reason was due to what she was told while under the care of the Silence and Madame Kovarian as young girl. They told her that with all of the experimenting and programing that had been done her; her body would never be able to bear children, just like her mother. Maybe that was the case at that time, but she had regenerated twice since then. Maybe the regenerations fixed her body and allowed her to have the opportunity to have children once more?
The second reason for it not being possible was that she and the Doctor had different genes, different DNA. He was a Time Lord and she was a human, granted with Time Lord DNA, but still mostly human. Most species in the universe were not compatible. Time Lord DNA was super complex and River had come to understand that, like the people it's DNA came from, Time Lord DNA was dominant among most other species and would usually not result in procreation due to it coming into contact with a lesser form of DNA. It was a way to weed out the lesser species from mixing with them and to make sure that Time Lords were still an all high and mighty pure species.
River was the anomaly to this though, even though she was human, her exposure to the time vortex while in utero had allowed her to develop Time Lord characteristics. Maybe that's why the Time Lord DNA inserted into her, as a child was able to link up with her normal human DNA, and make her the psychopath turned wife that she to this day.
The third reason why her condition shouldn't have happened was because River was using a contraceptive, a shot every month that kept her regular and baby free…until now.
And the fourth and final reason why this pregnancy shouldn't have been possible was that the Doctor himself said that it wouldn't happen.
Now River knew that the last reason was weak, but she believed her Doctor. After knowing that her body had been tampered with when she was young, knowing that DNA was practically incompatible, and that she herself was preventing it as best she could, she truly believed that when her Doctor told her that it wouldn't happen for all of the above reasons, she thought that it wouldn't really happen.
But it had happened. She was pregnant, with the Doctor's child. A Time Tot.
"A Time Tot," River chuckled softly to herself as she rolled her eyes and scanned over the artifacts of the many archeology expeditions she had gone on over the years. What she thought was never going to happen, was. All of those years after the recovering from the Silence and Kovarian, accepting what had happened to her, what she was, what she had done, and what she would never experience. Now she had the chance to actually experience it. But could she?
River turned on the couch and looked out of the window while biting her lower lip. Even though it was only a little after 1:00 in the afternoon, the sky was black. It was dark because River lived on the moon, right near the Luna University where she had studied archeology, became a doctor, and was now currently teaching as a professor. Somewhere out in black star filled universe was her husband, the Doctor, the last Time Lord, and she was going to literally rock his world. She was now presented with the chance to actually experience motherhood, while working a career that she absolutely loved, while also enjoying excursions around the universe with her time traveling husband.
Her husband.
This was where she questioned if she would actually be able to experience the idea that she was entertaining. Would the Doctor be interested in her pregnancy? Would he help support her, emotionally, physically, financially? She of course could handle all of the expenses, but a partner during the pregnancy and with the parenting would mean so much. But River had no idea if she would be able to meet up with a correct version of the Doctor. She was thankful that for time being she was meeting a version of her husband who had known who she was and who had known that they were married. In fact, their last four meetings had been exactly linear and the same for both. These last four months they had both met each other in the correct time order. Maybe the Tardis really was taking him where he needed be; even before he himself or she knew that they needed to be together. Maybe the Tardis could sense her pregnancy before either one of them and was trying to keep them together, in order. She knew she had to thank the old girl the next time she got the chance. That Tardis was always looking out for her.
River sighed as she stood up from the couch and walked to her bathroom. With each step she felt the anger that she held melt away. There wasn't any reason for her to be angry about her pregnancy. What's done was done, and no matter how unexpected or startling it was, she knew that she was slowly coming to peace with it, accepting it. She was now just feeling embarrassed that she wasn't expecting it to happen and by this point in time, that unexpected pregnancies could still happen and that she was now one of the statistics.
But embarrassed or not, this pregnancy was a miracle of sorts and it was a chance for her to have some normalcy in her crazy life. Oh she loved the crazy, the running for her life, the universe ending, the time happening all at once, the life restoring kisses, the flirting, the romantic moments, the sexy moments, and the once in a lifetime moments that she experienced with her Doctor. But River knew at that instant, with all those wonderful things she loved about her life, something more important was beginning to take hold and alter the way she looked at things.
If she had this child, this Time Tot, she would be a mother, and someone would be looking to her for care, for love, for motherhood.
Could she do this? Did she want to do this? What would the Doctor want? She had to get answers.
She finally made her way into her bathroom and looked in the mirror. Her face was pale, but that was normal. Even after the regenerations, she still had some of her parent's genetics affecting her. Her green eyes held many emotions, but the one that stood out the most was hope. A hope for a future that she never thought possible and never knew that she would want. Her golden brown curls stood out from her head at all angels and fell just above her shoulders. At the surface, she looked her usual self. But she knew that she was different now.
River looked down toward the white tile sink counter and spotted the pregnancy test on the edge, displaying in bold print: "POSITIVE: 12 weeks". She couldn't believe that it had taken her this long to pick up on the symptoms such as nausea, tiredness, and a slight four-pound weight gain.
She moved away from the sink until she could view almost all of herself in the bathroom mirror on the dark purple painted wall. She then slowly pulled up her white button up cotton shirt and examined herself closely. She angled and ogled herself in the mirror, even giving herself a wink, because she was of course River Song and she knew how she looked. She did love her body. Then she noticed it, a small, very small, curve around the edge of her stomach. Proof, more proof that the test, than the missed periods, than the usual symptoms of nausea and hormones. She could physically see that she was indeed carrying the Doctor's child and in that instant, all of her questions about herself went away. A switch flipped in her brain and her heart. She wanted this child. She knew it in every fiber of her being. She had something she had long thought was never meant for her. All the pain of having to deal with the fact that she'd never be able to have a child and then see her mother go though the same pain was almost unbearable, but now things were different.
She was going to be a mother.
A single wave of tears came to her eyes as she took in her decision. River wiped them away before they could fall down her face. She wasn't usually one for tears and this was happy moment. She saw herself smile in the mirror.
Now all she had to do was tell the Doctor. What would her floppy haired, twelve year old faced, ageless god think of when he heard the news? She knew that her husband wouldn't ever cast her aside. He loved her, he had proven that to her time and time again, but she didn't know if he would want this. River knew that her husband was lonely a lot of the time and that a child would change that immensely, especially since it would have attributes of the Time Lords, but with his lifestyle, would he be willing to be a bit more domesticated? She had to consider the fact that she would forever be changing his life as well as hers. She couldn't be selfish. Neither one of them could. There was someone more important now than both of them.
River took one last glance in the bathroom mirror as she pulled her shirt down over the very small curve and put her hand on top of it. She couldn't tell if she could actually feel the curve or if she was just so hyper aware of it now that she knew it existed.
River inhaled slowly and then exhaled.
"It's time to tell you father," River said out loud softy, partly to her child, and partly to herself to give her courage.
She then left the bathroom and walked into her bedroom. The walls were the color of the Tardis, an idea she had adopted from Amy's childhood bedroom. The furniture was a dark cherry wood. And the bedspread was a varying pattern of silver and grey. Just looking at the bed made the archeology professor reminisce of all the times she and the Doctor had fallen into it together, sometimes for comfort, sometimes for relaxation, and other times simply out of lust and love. It was hard to distinguish those two emotions with her husband. Lust and love, she couldn't have one without the other when it came to the Doctor. No wonder she was in the condition she was in now.
River then sat down on the edge of her bed and opened the top drawer of the nightstand. She took out the piece of technology she was looking for, her Time Vortex Manipulator, a wonderful donation from the most known Time Agent in history, the one and only Captain Jack Harkness. As she strapped on the black time technology to her wrist, she noticed something else flashing in the drawer. She picked up the piece of paper, which kept showing the same message over an over again.
'River, I need your help. Come to the Tardis as soon as you can. Please. It's an emergency. – Your Husband'. After that were the coordinates to where he and the Tardis were.
River chuckled to herself as she tossed the piece of psychic paper back into the drawer and closed it. Even in a crisis, the Doctor still had the time to send out a mental note and even be polite in it. He was odd but goofy that way, and she just loved it.
She stood up from the bed and set the coordinates to locate the Tardis on the Vortex Manipulator. Whatever the Doctor needed her for would come first. She would fix his crises like she always did and then, once things would calm down, she'd tell her husband their life changing news. One adventure after another.
River checked once more to make sure the coordinates were exact, closed her eyes, and hit the button that would hurl her through time and space to her awaiting husband. With a flash of blue light and a sound similar to thunder, the world of her blue bedroom on the moon disappeared and for a short few seconds, a mirage of colors swirled around, as she seemed to transport herself through the time vortex itself and then quickly landed in the Tardis, her one true home, and all things considering, her place of origin.
She kept her eyes shut for a few brief seconds as she collected herself. One hand automatically went to her stomach. She had not suffered terrible nausea or morning sickness yet through the beginning months of her pregnancy, but this most recent trip via the Vortex Manipulator certainly did a number on her stomach. She gently shook her head, lowered her hand to her side, opened her eyes, and started her usual greeting for the love of her life.
"Hello Sweetie…" The familiar phrase died on her bold red lips though as she took in the scene in the Tardis console room before her. The usual, orange-y colorful Tardis was all red and the cloister bell was chiming. The Doctor was looking frazzled as he ran around the console trying to fix whatever was going wrong. His brown hair was flying in different directions and his limbs were even more exaggerated than usual. His tweed jacket whipped around his fit frame like a tornado. He didn't even notice that River had arrived until she had walked up next him and touched his arm.
Suddenly the Tardis shook, and rocked back and forth violently. River gripped the Doctor's arm tightly, trying to keep her balance. Deep within her mind, River could feel the Tardis reaching out to her, looking for comfort and help. Poor old girl.
"River!" He exclaimed with a mix of relief, happiness, and love as he took in her presence. He quickly hugged her and kissed her on the cheek.
"Doctor?" She looked at him expectantly. She couldn't help herself from smiling, even though their seemed to be trouble. Their life was always exciting. Always unexpected.
"I need you to help me pilot the Tardis, River. Usually I can fly her by myself quite easily, but you know that she is actually meant to have a total of six pilots. Well, I thought between the two of us we can accomplish anything. I mean, I've been piloting her for practically forever and you town gals seem to get along very well…since you had such a significant…uh…start of life…with her…and she taught you how to fly her…and then I gave you even more lessons. Better lessons," he rambled on as he continued to fly around the console, pulling levers, twisting handles, and once in awhile looking at the scanner above his head.
The Tardis continued to shake, as if it seemed to be bouncing off of stuff, or smashing into something. They hit another object and it sent the Doctor flying backwards and almost over the silver railing of the console ledge and sent River to her knees as she awkwardly hung on to the console with one hand and held her stomach with the other. The latter movement happened automatically. She was already adjusting to her condition so easily she didn't even think of it as odd. It felt right to want to protect it, their child.
The Tardis kept on running into whatever objects were outside. She always teased her husband for his driving skills, but this the worst she has ever experienced. He was even asking for help. There must be an issue.
"Doctor!" River yelled over the crashing sounds outside of the blue box and the clanging of the cloister bell. "What is happening?!"
The Doctor sprung back towards the console and yanked a green stabilizer and then twisted a blue nob.
"Well, I was just minding my own business in the time vortex when I decided to visit a couple of planets! I gravitated out of the vortex and was suddenly caught in this onslaught and I haven't been able to escape!" His grey-ish eyes were wide with the thrill of adventure, danger, and the unknown.
"Escape out of what Sweetie?" River asked tentatively. Her face scrunched up as the Tardis was hit with another wave of whatever was causing them turmoil. She gripped the console tighter.
"This!" He yelled as he swung the scanner over to her side of the console so she could see what they were facing.
"Oh…"
On the screen, thousands upon thousands of sparkling space rocks were hurtling themselves towards the Tardis, knocking the time traveling blue box all around. It was very similar to a game of pin ball. The rocks were the machine. The Tardis was the ball.
"Yep," The Doctor announced excitedly while clapping his hands together as if he was proud of the situation he had gotten them into. "We are right in the heart of a meteor shower!"
River's eyes narrowed as she looked at the scanner and continued bracing for impact as rock after rock scraped against the Tardis.
"Well," River said as her eyes flickered down to her stomach and then back to avalanche of space rocks. "Isn't this a smashing start?" The Doctor took her hand in his own and smiled at her. She smiled back at him and raised an eyebrow as if to ask 'what's next?'.
The Doctor chuckled happily and then looked back to the screen. Coming right at them was a space rock the size of ten Tadis' and there seemed to be no way to avoid it. The Doctor squeezed her hand.
"Geronimo!" He cheered gleefully as he started to move around the console again.
"Geronimo," River agreed as she gazed down the giant rock with mix of excitement, adrenaline, glee, and anxiety. This was how her life always was and even with this new addition coming into, she wouldn't trade this kind of excitement for anything, especially if it was along side her husband.
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Thank you all for reading the first chapter of "Life Unexpected". It would be greatly appreciated for you to comment, favorite, and follow. If you have any issues, advice on how to make this story better, or what you would like to see in later chapters, then feel free to let me know. Thanks for going on this journey with me!