A/N: So glad you are all enjoying! Here's Ch 2!

Xxxxx

"Goddamn it!" River yelled, stomping her heel-clad food in protest. "God fucking damn it!"

She turned around and saw her coffee had managed to stay in its container, and the shiny thermos was lazily rolling back towards the curb. She walked over and picked it up.

"Hey lady, you gettin' on?" The bus driver hollered at River.

"Yes sir!" She replied, darting back onto the transit vehicle. "Thank you."

He grunted a reply and she found her way to the nearest available seat.

So, she thought to herself, the Doctor is here, in Amherst. So I'm on the right trail after all.

River couldn't help but feel anxious. If he had in fact come here because of the date in the journal, then that did mean that something was in fact wrong with the time line. There had to be some hole, some disturbance, some whatever that was drawing him here.

Again, she wondered if Laura Adam's disappearance had anything to do with it.

Grabbing her paper from her bag, she scanned the local section. Not knowing what she was looking for exactly, she eyed the titles of various articles to see if anything popped out.

About two minutes into her search, she stumbled on a small two-inch story about a young man who had disappeared five days prior. The man, Donald John Harold, or "DJ" had gone missing after a wild night of partying in a local bar. Police were hesitant to investigate, given DJ's age and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance, but his parents were insisting on a formal investigation.

Finding nothing else, River tucked the paper into her bag and withdrew her journal. Flipping to the nearest blank page, she wrote down:

Laura Adams

Donald John "DJ" Harold

Two people, both around the same age, and both disappearing around the same time. Sad, but not unheard of in this day and age.

The bus lurched forward and screeched to a halt at the corner adjacent to the university. Luckily, the school was kind enough to lend out a small, unused office space for River while she was preparing her lecture, and she appreciated the easy access to the libraries.

As she made her way through campus, her heels making a steady clicking sound on the cobblestone, she noticed a rather large truck impeding traffic near the art building. From the way it was positioned, it was neither on the street or the sidewalk, but rather a cumbersome in between, and pedestrians and cars alike were having trouble getting around it.

"Bit messy isn't it?" A small voice said.

Anna Lithgard, a forensic anthropology professor, had been one of River's friends in the academia world for nearly ten years. Anna had been the one to help River land a guest lecturer position here, and she had always been a good source of general information regarding teaching and anthropology.

River turned to meet her colleague's blue eyes. "Hi, Anna! Yes it is, quite. D'you know what's going on?"

Part of River ached when she looked at Anna, because she knew this would probably be the last year she'd ever see her. Not by choice, of course, but not aging (and in fact aging in reverse) after ten years becomes slowly but surely noticeable, and River found it easier to drift in and out of people's lives rather than deal with the onslaught of inevitable inquiries regarding her appearance.

Anna lit a cigarette. "Some art professor is doing some sort of project dealing with statues and he had to order a lot of rocks or something like that. You should have seen it last year when he decided that steel rods were his new medium. Blew the entire budget in two weeks."

"Why's he still here?" River asked incredulously.

"Tenure," she replied with a shrug.

"Ah, I see. What kind of rocks?"

"Beg your pardon?" The blonde looked perplexed by the question.

"Like, granite or marble?"

"Hell if I know. I only heard about it through the grapevine."

"Ah."

Anna paused in front of their office building. "You heard about the disappearance?"

"I did. You know her?"

Anna shook her head. "No, but the physics department thinks very highly of her, apparently."

"It's sad."

"Isn't it?"

Anna took a few more drags before stubbing it out.

"Do you know about another disappearance that happened about five days ago? A man named DJ?"

Again the blonde shook her head. "I don't really watch the news very much. Really don't read the paper. I only knew about Laura from the university email."

River nodded and pulled open the door. "I'm sure in your line of work you see enough as it is,"

"I do, yes, and normally I get the nasty ending of it all." As a forensic anthropologist, Anna normally consulted on various cases in the larger area surrounding Amherst. Though not contracted to do so, she had begun working with the coroner's office at the request of the chief medical examiner. Apparently her reputation as a competent professor had followed her, and though her dissertation had focused on forensic anthropology as it applies to archaeological finds, the medical examiner still felt that her expertise was valuable to certain criminal investigations.

"Dr. Lithgard!" A voice called out, and a student with bushy brown hair appeared at her side.

"Dr. Song, catch you later?"

River smiled and waved and continued towards her office. Facing the southern side of campus, the tiny little space did have a beautiful view.

Sighing, she sat down heavily at her desk, placed her thermos in the corner, and began working through her lecture notes.

The Romans. Her mother's favorite. Her father had even been a Roman at one point in time. Oh, how she wished she could give a lesson on the Pandorica—now that would really be a lecture for the ages! She mused.

But instead of dwelling, she focused her thoughts to the task at hand and began editing and revising the many pages before her.

Xxxxxxx

When the sun had begun setting in the sky and the blue had given way to orange, River laid down her pencil and slowly rolled her neck. Stiff from the hours of writing, she felt the tension in her shoulders protesting at the sudden movement.

Knowing that she'd worked as long as she could stand, she gathered up her things and shut down her computer. Once her binders and books were in place, she forced her empty thermos into the remaining space and grabbed her keys. With a final glance backwards, she flipped off the lights, closed the door, and locked it for the night.

Even though it was relatively early, the campus was much more quiet than it had been this morning.

A few students meandered here and there, some looking as if they'd been through hell and back, others as if they'd been enlightened by some higher knowledge. That's how it normally was at a university, she mused, those who are drowning either from lack of sleep or alcohol, and those who were practically feeding off of the academic energy pulsing through the ivory halls.

"And then there are those who balance learning with drinking and grow up to be beautiful women. Hello, Dr. Song."

That voice.

That voice she'd know anywhere.

"Hello, Sweetie."

Xxxxxxxx

A/N: Ok, so a bit of an exposition chapter, but I wanted to get something out to everyone! I think this is going to be a 20ish chapter story…