Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Doctor, Donna, Amy, Rory or U2. Or Party Girl! Thanks for the reads and reviews. Please enjoy and let me know what you think.

SOME TIME EARLIER

The beach. Spaceman had actually managed to get her to a beach.

Sure, it had only been like three years and there were a few ill-fated attempts. The first was one right before a volcano erupted. The second time she had been arrested for forcing herself on the Doctor, but they had gotten married, so it was a mixed bag really. The last attempt had involved them escaping giant mosquitoes. All she wanted was to lay on the beach and relax, just for a little while.

This was of course not including the time they were about to go to a beach and got waylaid to a library planet full of invisible flesh eaters and Donna got sucked into the computer core.

So here she was, relaxing under an umbrella, sipping on a nice smoothie made out of whatever fruit was on this planet and watching the Doctor and Zara play in the water. The Doctor would let Zara hang off him and dipped her toes in the water, but every time the waves came in she shrieked and climbed back up on the Doctor with baby chimp like efficiency.

The Doctor gathered Zara up and gave her a kiss on the top of the head, making his way back to their little patch of sand.

"Mummy..." cried Zara coming towards Donna with open arms.

"Oh, what was wrong out there? Daddy had you," said Donna as she dried Zara off.

"No water," she said with a sniffle.

"It's not her fault," said the Doctor. "Gallifreyans aren't natural swimmers. We have an innate fear of the water."

"You swim," said Donna. "Your time machine has a pool in it."

"I'm nine hundred, Donna, I've had time to work at it," said the Doctor. "We'll try again in a little while."

Donna sat back in her chair and Zara rested against her.

"Why don't you go for a swim?," asked the Doctor. "Might help your backache."

"No, I'm fine here," said Donna, content to let Zara snuggle against her. "You are sure it's not labor?"

"Very sure, Donna," said the Doctor.

She motioned at Zara. "If you remember this one could have been born at a performance of Hairspray."

"You're not even due for another month. She was keeping us waiting," he said motioning at Zara.

"She was not, that was just you and your ginger Time Baby obsession. You couldn't wait to get your hands on one."

"Oh, but she's cute and fun."

"She's not a puppy!"

The Doctor smiled. "Where did Amy and Rory get off to?"

"I gave him the idea to ask ger for a romantic walk on the beach to the cliffs in the brochure."

"Those two can't seem to get it together..."

"I know. It's as if he'll have to be poisoned with cyanide to express his true feelings."

"Right," smiled the Doctor at the little joke. "Of course, then she'll have to feel threatened by an archaeologist-"

"I am not threatened by someone dressed like the Stig!"

"Oh, fine then."

A waiter brought them lunch and they polished it off quickly. Then the Doctor took Zara to the edge of the waves to build a sand castle.

A man stopped by Donna.

"Hello," he said.

"Hi," said Donna.

"How far along are you?," he asked.

"Who wants to know?," asked Donna crossing her arms. She really was in no mood for Time Baby kidnappers.

"Hello!," said the Doctor, coming back with Zara.

"Oh," said the man. "Is this your suitor? When are you two done?"

"Suitor?," asked Donna.

"Actually, we have an extended arrangement," said the Doctor casually. "I've got her booked through the next two."

"Well, if you change your mind, this is me," said the man handing Donna an octagonal business card and winking as he walked off.

"What was all that?," asked Donna.

"On this planet, mating rituals vary somewhat. Generally, a male and a female mate for the time it takes to produce one offspring. When the baby's born, the male gives the female money and she's off to her next suitor."

"You mean these people just stay together long enough to have a baby?"

"Precisely, though on occasion you can arrange to have several children, which is what I just said was our arrangement."

"That's disgusting," said Donna. "And what? They just leave the babies with the fathers?"

"What? You don't trust fathers with babies?"

"I trust you," said Donna. "Babies need mummies, though."

"There are lots of species where the male has the primary child-rearing duties, even carrying offspring."

"And are Time Lords one of them?"

"No," said the Doctor.

"No." Donna pulled Zara back on her lap.

The Doctor looked back at the sidewalk running along behind the beach. Rory was walking along behind Amy and what seemed to be a lifeguard.

"Oh, not again," said the Doctor.

Donna looked back. "What is it with him?"

"What is that? Five times I've given him a perfect setup?"

"Are you counting that incident with the Judoon? That wasn't exactly perfect."

"I don't know what else I can do, Donna."

"Maybe it's too much."

"How do you mean?"

"You're a Time Lord, you travel across all of time and space, your date ideas may be a little over the top. Most girls are happy with dinner and a movie."

"I haven't heard complaints."

"My point is Rory's just an ordinary bloke, you need to get something where he can shine. Like a regular date."

"Dinner and a movie?," the Doctor said in dismay.

"Yes."

"What about a concert?"

"I suppose..." Donna said warily, wondering when exactly they would be meeting Mozart.

"It'll be a perfectly normal concert."

"Since when can you do perfectly normal?"

"Welcome to Milan!," said the Doctor as he pushed Zara's pram out of the TARDIS.

Rory, Amy and Donna stepped out of the TARDIS. It was warm and sticky and everyone seemed to be walking somewhere.

"Wait. This looks normal. What year is this?," asked Rory.

"Two thousand and nine."

"You took us to last year?," asked Rory.

"Were you in Milan last year?," asked the Doctor.

"No."

"Well, stop complaining then!"

"And what is so special about Milan in 2009 in what is this? August?," asked Donna.

"July seventh. Come on!"

They followed the Doctor as he made his way through the crowd and to a couple of burly looking security guards.

"Is this a concert?," asked Amy. "You're taking us to a concert?"

"Hello!," the Doctor said cheerfully to the guards. "I'm on the list. I'm the Doctor."

"You're on the list?," asked Donna. "What are you on the list for?"

One of the guards looked at the clipboard from behind his designer sunglasses. He looked back up in slight disbelief. "You can go in. Just follow the corridor."

The Doctor looked back at them and smiled. "Off we go."

They walked down the corridor to another set of bulky guards where the line about being on the list and being the Doctor seemed to work. An assistant gave them backstage passes to put on and that's when the others finally saw where they had arrived at.

"We're at U2?," asked Rory.

"This is U2!," said Amy desperately trying to stave off a squeal of excitement.

"How are you on the list for U2?," asked Donna.

"I'm on the list for lots of things."

"You took me to U2 last year when I didn't remember who you were. We were in the upper level of Wembley!"

"You said you had fun," said the Doctor.

"I didn't know you had backstage pass getting powers!," exclaimed Donna. "You didn't even have to use the psychic paper. Wait a tick, why didn't you have to use the psychic paper?"

"Hi, Doctor," said a man in a flannel shirt and a black skullcap.

"Hello!," the Doctor replied cheerfully.

"The Edge just said hi to you!," said Amy.

"You know the Edge?," asked Rory.

"I know the whole band. I was there at the beginning."

"What do you mean you were there at the beginning?," Amy asked excitedly.

"I mean, Bono almost didn't responde to that notice Larry put up wanting to form a band until I pointed it out to him."

"So, you were just hanging around Ireland?"

"No, I was chasing these aliens turning people into zombies. I happened to run into Bono when he was just a teenager. After the zombie chase was done, I went back to check on the band later, to make certain I hadn't mucked up the time lines and Bono recognized me and that's how I got on the list."

"You told them you were a time travelling alien?," asked Rory.

"Of course I did. It's U2. You can't lie to U2."

"Bono put you on the list!," Amy said in delight.

"Well, don't just stand here, go on!," said the Doctor. "Rory, go with her."

Amy ran off and Rory caught up. The Doctor turned back to Donna and saw that her expression wasn't one of satisfaction.

"What?"

"It was too much," said Donna.

"What do you mean it was too much? I took them to a concert not a year in their past!"

"One, we're in Milan. Two, you took them to the biggest rock band in the world-"

"You should see the Catkind tribute band! They're called Meow2."

Donna ignored the hundredth ridiculous comment the Doctor had made that day. "Which just happens to be her favorite. And you know Bono and the Edge just said hi to you-"

"I can't help that."

"It's just that I know Amy doesn't have romantic feelings for you, but anytime a regular man is standing next to you, he looks... inadequate. Look at poor Mickey."

"Oh," said the Doctor. Maybe he had been unfair without realizing it. "Should we leave?"

Donna contorted her face in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? We're backstage at U2! We're not leaving until I've got a picture of us next to Bono to show to Nerys."

The Doctor introduced the companions and his family to the band, which just seemed to confuse them. They got Donna's picture for Nerys and got seats in the round in front of the stage. Donna worried about all the noise for Zara, but the Doctor assured her that the Time Baby's ears wouldn't be affected. In fact Zara seemed to share her father's affinity for the band as she tried to babble with the music. Amy even took a turn holding her and trying to teach her the words.

The show began in spectacular fashion. The Doctor kept glancing back every so often at Amy and Rory. Amy was delighted and Rory looked miserable. He was starting to doubt his skills as a matchmaker. Maybe he should leave the whole thing up to Donna, she seemed to have a better handle on it. He recollected that his own attempts at wooing Donna had been fraught with setbacks. He first said "I didn't mean the detox" when she was almost asleep, that wasn't really a great strategy. His marriage proposal had finally come to save Donna from a three thousand year jail sentence even though he had meant to for weeks. How was he supposed to get Rory to say anything to Amy when he hadn't for years?

He felt Donna poke his arm as she held Donna. "I've got to take her for a changing."

"I've got it," said the Doctor, taking Zara from her.

"You're sure?"

"I've got it."

The Doctor walked into the bowels of the stadium cheerfully singing to Zara as he could still hear "Party Girl" playing onstage. "I know she wants more than a party, party girl..."

Then he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Hello, sweetie."

It was River Song. He could see she was wearing a vortex manipulator. It looked a lot like Jack's.

"Uh, Professor Song, I-"

"It's a great concert. You always did have a taste for popular culture I didn't quite follow."

"It's U2!," said the Doctor in dismay. How the hell was this woman supposed to be from his future?

River didn't answer. She said, "Hello, Zara."

The Doctor stiffened. Not liking that. Zara's gaze was focused on River, the Doctor could sense her confusion as she tried to figure out who she was and why her dad was so thrown off.

"You know, they make a recording of this concert called 'The Other Side of Silence.'"

"Is that significant?," asked the Doctor.

River shrugged. "Spoilers."

"Wait, silence. Do you mean the Silence?"

River shook her head. "It's really too early in your time stream for that."

"Then why bother showing up here?," he spat. "Just so you can show off?"

"You mean like you?" She started programming the vortex manipulator. "Oh, look how the day dwindles. Must be off, sweetie."

Then she disappeared. The Doctor looked at Zara.

"I think if we could not tell your mummy, that would be best."

"Lady go bye-bye?"

"Yes, hopefully for a while."