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Chapter Two
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Nearly two weeks passed, and I almost forgot about my strange encounter with the woman.
Almost.
I went to work, shopped, and kind of worked on the nursery area in my apartment, which meant finally putting together the crib - mobile, decorations, and such. I'd been putting off getting everything together for ages, and at this point, still was. I was constantly being pulled apart by the desire to get everything done and the fear of what would happen once everything was actually finished.
My mother was driving me crazy. Especially since I only called her 'mother' because she insisted that I should. She was my 'real' mom, even though I refused to think of it that way. She was biologically my mother, but my real mom looked nothing like me, and died four years ago.
Some adopted kids get along great with their birth parents after being reintroduced in adulthood, but I was not one of them. My 'mother', Krista, was hard to love. Especially now, when she texted me every twenty minutes, switching from 'you need to be with family when the baby comes' and 'you're a whore and you'll never be able to take care of a baby on you own,' every three texts.
I couldn't stand her, and even though she was really the only family I had left, I continued to refuse to reach out to her despite the number of times she'd begged me to move in with her and her constantly changing boyfriends.
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The next time I saw River Song was at work. I had been airbrushing a mask, one with a huge chin and rosy cheeks, when I looked up, having heard the sound of people conversing.
Through the thin glass that separated the workshop with the hall that led to the offices, I spotted a great mass of extremely curly hair. River was speaking to my boss, wearing the same clothes I'd last seen her in as if she'd just come from our first meeting several weeks prior.
I couldn't hear what she was saying to the balding man, but I was positive she was flirting. It was obvious from the way she intentionally stuck her chest out and from the delicious curve of her lips that she was doing it on purpose. Her eyes said something different, though. They were cold. Cold and clever.
Two uneasy twinges of fear trickled up my spine. She was here for me, I knew it. How had she found me? An accidental meeting in a store was one thing. At the workplace was another. A single encounter with a freak can be written off as a coincidence, but two…
I quickly tucked my airbrush to the side and made a run for the back door.
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My quick escape bought me another three days. I called in sick to work. Thankfully no one minded, I was ahead on my work schedule and nearing my final weeks of pregnancy, so some time off was both earned and expected.
There was a park near my apartment complex. It wasn't much, but it had some playground equipment with faded red plastic, uncomfortable metal swings, a couple of benches, and a swirling asphalt walkway lining the border. I was uncomfortable, heavy, and restless, so I spent a lot of my free time here, alternating between walking laps and resting on the benches when I got tired (which was often).
The reasonably fresh air (as fresh as you could find in or around L.A.) helped to clear my head. The woman, this Professor River Song, was starting to go to my head. She was weird in all the best and worst ways. Weird enough to be connected to…
No. No way.
I sniffed the air sternly, as if I expected to smell something other than the smell of concrete and car exhaust, and shook my head.
No. She couldn't have anything to do with him. I didn't even know who 'him' was.
I curled my hand around my belly protectively. It was just 'us' now. Me and the baby. No 'him' or 'her' or, god forbid, 'they' would have anything to do with it. I was going to make sure of that.
A stab of anxiety sucked away all of my grim determination, and for a second, I was worried that River had found us.
The faint scent of onion wafted around me, making me gag.
"How's mama doing today?" Much to my disgust, Harry sidled up on the bench beside me.
"Fine," I said curtly, starting to try and work my way into a standing position. Difficult with my skewed center of balance.
Harry reached out and snagged my arm, causing me to stumble back onto the bench somewhat painfully.
I grit my teeth. "What are you doing here?"
"Just came to check on my favorite mother-to-be," he said cheekily, sliding his arm around my shoulders.
"I'm fine, thanks."
I turned to give him a withering glare, but found him, inexplicably, standing three feet away. I didn't remember him standing up, or even taking his arm from around me. But there he was, standing and looking startled, like something had just lept out at him from a dark corner.
Harry seemed just as confused about it as I was. He blinked twice and tried to resume a casual stance.
"And ask her out for dinner," he added, baring his horse-teeth in a wolfish grin.
"Thanks for the offer, but no."
"Aww, come on!" He started to tease, but was cut off when he was suddenly standing nearly ten feet away, his back to me like he'd been running away. He turned back around and stared at me confusedly, mouth gaping open and shut like a frightened fish, then he swaggered back like he'd meant to do it. "If you'd just give me a chance, I'm a great guy. Really."
Nice guys don't feel need to explain that they're nice, I almost said.
But I didn't.
"No." I said firmly, glaring straight ahead and trying to pick myself up again.
"Why?" He whined, pushing me back down by the shoulder once more.
I shoved his hand off angrily, finally having snapped. I whipped around to glare at him, snarling, "Because you're a controlling, self absorbed prick that doesn't respect a woman enough to…"
But he was gone.
Gone.
Not ten feet away. Not hovering behind me, just gone. Like he'd never been there.
The baby was terrified. I could practically hear its tiny heart pounding in my ears. I rested my hand on my belly, trying to comfort both it and myself.
I gazed around in bewilderment, looking for any indication of where he'd vanished to. A couple of kids swung on the jungle gym like a pair of monkeys, an older woman and her granddaughter were side by side on the swings, and a young couple that lived a floor below me jogged steadily on the other side of the playground. But no Harry.
Confused, but thankful, I managed to stand, trying to ignore the small kicking creature in my stomach that seemed to be trying to persuade me into moving like a rider would try to coax a stubborn horse into a gallop.
I wasn't going to gallop, but I did, independently, I might add, elect to go back inside. I waddled off, kicking over what appeared to be a small pile of ash that I didn't remember being there before, scattering it into the faint breeze.
I paused briefly to consider the strange substance, considering leaning down to feel it. But then I remembered that bending over was almost impossible for a woman of my size and thought better of it. It was probably something nasty that didn't need to be touched anyway.
"Hello, sweetie."
I jumped like a startled rabbit at the voice. River Song was striding across the playground, sultry and confident as ever. I tugged my cardigan closer around me, suddenly cold in the late afternoon heat.
"No," I deadpanned, spinning about as elegantly as I could and scampering off back towards my building. It probably wasn't a good idea to lead the person you were trying to avoid straight towards your place of residence, but I was already spooked as it was, so heading to safety was my first instinct.
"We need to talk," River demanded, catching up with me easily. I think she looked a little spooked as well, but I was making a point of ignoring her, so it was hard to tell.
"No, we don't," I snipped, trying not to feel intimidated. She had a good few inches on me, not counting the poofy hair. I wasn't easily intimidated, but something about her made my skin crawl. "Now please just leave me alone."
"I can't," the woman insisted, grabbing my shoulder and spinning around in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. "You're in danger."
"Yeah, you've said that." I cocked my hip and forced myself to look her straight in the eye. "Funny, but I don't automatically believe crazy bitches that come up to me in the store. Must be the Californian in me."
River's plump lips curled into what I was beginning to label as her trademark smirk. "Sweetie, surely you know that I'm much, much more than just some crazy bitch."
I rolled my eyes. "You said it, not me. Now go away."
I dodged around her and began climbing the stairs of the apartment building, heading up to level 3, where I lived. I didn't have to look behind me to know she was on my heels.
"You really need to come with me," she kept insisting as I tried to open my door, fumbling the keys in my haste to get away from her. "Or get out of town. Do you have any family you can stay with? Obscure family. Somewhere no one would think to look."
"Why the hell would I do that?" I snapped, slipping inside and trying to close the door behind me before she could follow, but failing miserably.
River easily pushed her way in and began pacing around, checking the widows, peering through the blinds while I glowered at her with my arms crossed.
"Because someone is looking for you."
"Who?"
She ignored the question in favor of digging through the drawers of the cabinet below the tv. "Have you got a pen?"
"No," I lied immediately, but she found one a half second later, scribbling it on her palm to make sure it worked on skin.
"Right, we need to go." River opened the hall closet and dug out a large bag.
"Just a fucking second…" I squawked, hurrying after her as she swept into the bedroom and began throwing clothes and shoes into the bag at random.
"Do you need these?" She inquired, holding up a comfortable pair of flats.
I opened my mouth to answer, but she tossed them in anyway.
"Hang on!" I yanked the bag out of her hands and threw it on the bed. "I'm not going anywhere! How dare you come into my house and…"
We both looked around as the bedside lamp smashed to the floor, having had colliding with the wall beside the door.
My arm was up and aching slightly, my mind racing to compute the obvious.
I had thrown the lamp.
I didn't remember picking it up or even having a real reason to pick it up or throw it in the first place, but I had. I had been thinking about threatening River with a heavy object, but I hadn't aimed it at her at all. In the opposite direction from her, in fact.
"We've got to go," River insisted, her voice cool and serious. She looked at her hand, shouldered the bag full of my things, and unholstered what looked like a sci-fi toy gun from her belt.
"Is that a gun?" I snapped, trying to ignore the way the baby was practically doing frightened somersaults. "No, I'm not having those in my…"
"Shut up!" The curly-headed woman snapped, moving around the bed and creeping towards the bedroom door.
"Why?" I quipped back, moving after her, annoyed but curious.
"Because they're here. So much for my head start." Two burn marks, like cigarette burns, suddenly appeared on the wall down the hall. I was surprised to discover that I was holding onto River's arm, cowering behind her in what I could only describe as fear.
I let go of her like she was a snake and awkwardly crossed my arms over my chest self consciously. "Who's here? What do you mean 'head start?'"
River lifted her hand to show me a single tally mark on her palm.
"What does that mean?"
"The Silence," she growled returning her attention to leading me into the living room. "Creatures that you can only remember while you're looking at them."
"Huh?"
The couch was suddenly sitting on it's side.
"Aliens," she added simply, cool as a cucumber.
A plate left on the kitchen counter shattered of its own accord.
"Aliens?" I scoffed, trying to sound tough. I wasn't though. "I don't believe in aliens."
This struck River as humorous. She chuckled a bit. "We both know that you do."
"Fine. If there are aliens, what are they doing here?"
"They want you." River flipped her hand to see if she'd marked it again.
"Me?" I echoed, bewildered. "Why me?"
"Not you, actually," she clarified. "Specifically, your baby."
I wrapped my arms around my stomach defensively. "Why?"
River turned to glare at me sternly. "You know why."
A different sort of unease twisted in my gut, and it wasn't because the baby was kicking again.
Blushing, I opened my mouth, maybe to defend myself, but I didn't get a chance to find out.
New cigarette burns had appeared on the wall, this time accompanied by the smell of burning plastic. River lifted her hand to show me new writing.
'You got it!' The writing said.
"I've shot it," River explained, snatching up my hand and all but dragging me out the door. "There was only one of them, probably just a scout. But now that they know I'm here, they'll know they've found who they're looking for."
"Where are we going?" I cried, fighting hard not to fall down the stairs.
"I don't know. I had planned to use my vortex manipulator…"
"Your what?"
"Never mind that. But I realized it probably wouldn't do junior any good. Come on, we need a car."
River released my hand as we entered the parking lot. I struggled to catch my breath, watching her dart around between cars.
"But… can't we just take mine?" I asked as she opened a locked door with a strange tubular device.
"No!" She sniffed as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She slid into the driver's seat. "I've only bought us a little time. They'll know they've found the right place once they realize their scout is dead. They'll be looking for your car. Now, get in!"
I stared at her dumbly for a second but then hastened to obey, slipping in the now stolen car. River had it in drive and had us out of the parking lot, tires screeching, before I could even buckle up.
"Now, where to?" The mad woman asked, grinning happily as she dodged cars with ease.
Unfortunately, as I dug my nails into the leather seat, I knew exactly where we would go.