The next day, River and I were at the ward. A large building, with the words "Kovarian Ward" loomed over us. It was oddly silent. Peering into the ward's windows while River locked the car, all I could see was darkness.

"Is the place deserted?" I asked. "Cause it looks like nobody's home." I had my hand on my belly, ready to run if River was pulling one on me.

"They have soundproof and extremely tinted windows," River replied. "To keep patients' privacy, according to them."

"And according to you?" I asked.

River knocked on the door, and said "I think they need to get better at lying."

The door opened, and we were met by a pregnant woman wearing a dress. "Hello! Are you here for the Kovarian Maternity Ward's services?"

"Yes, we are," said River, flashing her white teeth in a grin.. "I'm...Amy Smith, and this is Christina Smith. We're lovers, you see." She spontaneously wrapped her arm around me.

Lovers? That wasn't part of the deal! I glared at her. She simply smiled at me. "Don't look so sulky, sweetie," she said ,kissing me on the cheek. I did the best fake smile I could.

The woman looked questioningly at us "So ya must be surrogates, correct?" she said

"Yes," River said quickly.

"We wanted to have 2 babies in the family," I lied. "So we both agreed to carry children, and now we'll conceive at the same hospital , like we always wanted!"

"Lovely!" said the woman. "Kovarian likes surrogates...the Ward will treat you very well. Let me take you to our waiting room. Just gonna need you to answer a few questions while we walk."

As I went inside with River, it became clear just how much the windows blocked out. The walls were painted white, with a red checker pattern on the floor. and ceiling There were people bustling to and fro—doctors, secretaries, and other pregnant woman in gold dresses. All female, I noticed.

"First question: do you have any diseases?" our escort asked. We shook our heads.

"Wonderful!" she said, giggling. (I was starting to find her annoying.) "Second question: have you guys," she continued, lowering her voice, "broken the law? Or commited any crimes?"

I quickly said "Nope! Our records are squeaky clean. Right, River?"

The escort looked confused. "I thought you said your name was Amy?" she said to River.

Whoops. I already screwed up.

River, however, smoothly replied "River's just some stupid pet name my sister has for me. Sometimes she doesn't know when to be quiet."

"Aww, that's cute," said the woman. When the woman's back was turned, River shot me an angry look.

After a few minutes, and some more questions, we got to the waiting room. Instead of the happy colors I'd expect from a pregnancy ward, it was colored black.

"It was nice to be with you gals, but I gotta go now," our escort said. "The Midwives will be with ya in no time. Cheerio!"

"I have one question," I asked. "You're pregnant, right? Why aren't you on medical leave? Why are there a bunch of other pregnant people working here?"

"Because we're Surrogates. And Madame Kovarian doesn't give medical leave," the escort said. She was out of the room before I could ask what a Surrogate was.

"Insufferable, wasn't she?" smirked River.

"She was hiding something," I pointed out.

"This whole place is hiding something," replied River. "Come on, let's go before those Midwives show up."

Before we could leave, a woman with a apron and one of those facemasks you always see on doctors opened the door our escort had come out of, and came up to us.

"Hello," she said. "I am Midwife Josie."

"Uh, hello?" I said.

"We'll take you to your chambers now. Marie told us that you are lovers, yes? Then do you want a room together?"

"No," I said.

"Actually, yes!" said River, winking at me.

"Then I'll take you to Room 616," said Josie. She led us down a long hallway. Pictures of teddy bears lined the blueish walls. The lights on the ceiling felt warm and inviting. The ward didn't seem as bad as River had said.

I felt an arm grab mine. Looking to my left, I saw a grinning River.

"It's going rather well, don't you think?" said River.

"Putting us in the same room? You're taking this 'lover' thing very seriously," I said dryly.

River's grin grew wider. "Us being in the same room lets us share info easier. I didn't do it just so I could...corrupt your innocence," she said, batting her eyebrows playfully.

"Me? Innocent? You don't know me very well, " I said. Truth be told, she wasn't bad on the eyes, and although I still hadn't forgiven her for tying me up, I wouldn't mind a snog with...

Woah, there. Focus on the goal, Christie.

"Here we are," said Josie, opening a door. Inside was a group of women, all pregnant like us, sitting on couches. This seemed like a communal area. Josie passed River a key, and told us "A few doors down in this room is your bed. You can sleep there. Please feel free to talk to some of the other women here—the Ward encourages socialization amoung the patients. In a few hours, one of the Midwives will be here to check up on you. Good-bye, and have a great time in the Ward." With that, Josie walked off.

Several of the women looked up, but I wasn't really interested in chatting. Actually, all I wanted was to go to bed. A redheaded woman waved at me and beckoned me over, but I ignored her. The pillow was calling to me.

"I'm taking a nap," I said to River.

"Alright. Here's the key," she said. "I'm going to take a look around the place. "

I shrugged, and went into a low-lighted bedroom. There was one bed, but it was a big one. I mentally made a note to tell River to go sleep on the floor, and jumped onto the bed, because I wanted to feel it out. I promptly closed my eyes, preparing to take a short nap.

When I woke up, the light seemed much brighter than I remembered. I snuggled my head against the pillows, and then realized the light was actually sunlight. And that pillow wasn't actually a pillow.

"My,my, I didn't know I was that comfortable," said the unmistakable voice of River Song uncomfortably close to my ear.

I jumped off the bed immediately, and in the process hit my head on something. River began laughing as I glared.

"You didn't have to move, you know," River said, still laughing, "not when you were so relaxed."

"Shut up," I said, rubbing my head. I looked around at the room. I coud see a rather fancy looking room. Hearts and baby pictures lined the blue walls. There were a few lights besides the ceiling light I had hit my head on. I looked back at River, and said "How long was I out?"

"Several hours. You seemed tired, so I let you sleep," River said.

"Thanks," I replied. I noticed that, for some reason, River's stomach seemed flatter than usual. I was about to tease her about losing weight, when she interrupted.

"Why don't you go outside, and talk to the other women? See if there's any other info you can find," River said.

"You're not going to come with me?" I asked.

She shook her head. Fiddling with the covers, she said "No. I think I'll rest a little more."

I had a feeling there was a reason she wanted me to leave, but I let it go. "See you later," I said.

Walking out the door, I was confronted with a woman with a bunch of dishes. I could smell food.

"Hello, do you want some of this foo-", said the server.

I said "YES!" and immediately started eating with the fork on the dish. The woman cleared her throat, and I stopped, looking up.

"Um, thanks?" I said.

The woman, with a bemused expression, said "You're hungry, aren't you? We'll set a table, and you can eat to your heart's content."

I went to sit down. While I was fantasizing about the new meal, a finger tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around to see a bushy haired redhead.

"Hi, my name's Sara," she said, holding out her hand "I noticed you came in yesterday, correct?"

"Yeah."

"I've been here for several days. They treat the expecting mothers really well while we're staying," she said.

At that point, a tray of food was placed in front of me. The smell of the food made my stomach grumble audibly. Sara laughed and pointed at the food.

"See what I mean," she said.

"I haven't eaten so well in ages!" I said, stuffing my face. I'd been on the streets so long, I forgot what a good meal tasted like.

"Slow down," said Sara, grinning. When I ignored her and kept on chowing, she giggled and said "You must have been really hungry."

"You have no idea," I told her.

"All the free food and soft beds make up for the...weirdness here," said Sara. She looked somewhat troubled.

"You okay? Is there anything weird going on?" I asked, trying not to be too blatant with my probing questions.

"I'm great!" said Sara cheerfully. "It's just the way the Midwives act...it makes you feel like you're surrounded by a cult. I dunno, maybe I'm just a little jumpy."

"Hmm," I said, deciding to keep my suspicions to myself.

A few hours later, I was sitting in an examination room. The Midwives had told me that one of them would be checking my vitals and such. There was no sign of River. I figured that she had just decided to stay sleeping...I found that kinda weird, but didn't want to wake her unnecessarily. So I sat on a tall chair with quite a bit of cushioning , waiting for a Midwife .to come examine me.

Just when I was beginning to get bored, a woman came into the room. She was an older woman with black hair, and a white nurse's outfit on. But the most striking thing about her was the black eye-patch she wore. She smiled upon seeing me.

"Hello, my dear," said the woman. "You must be Christine, correct?'

"Yes. Are you the Midwife you's supposed to examine me?" I asked. She had a constant grin, but I felt mildly unsettled, for some reason.

"Don't worry, dear. You're in safe hands," she said. She positioned some sort of device with a large screen attached over my stomach. At first I was a little nervous, but then a green light came out.

"It's a scanner device," the woman explained. The device made a brrng sound while the light sweeped up and down my belly.

Getting bored of waiting for the scanner, I decided to chat. I was supposed to be on an investigative mission, after all.

"So, what's your name?" I said.

She had been staring at my belly, and seemed to be startled by my question. After a pause, she said "I'm Midwife Amy."

I was utterly sure that she was lying, but decided not to push it. "How long have you been working here?"

She shrugged, and said "Long enough. Madame Kovarian constantly works us...makes a lot of time feel like a little."

I looked at the device. I could see some numbers that were probably my vital signs. I turned to the smiling Amy, and said "How's my baby doing?"

"Perfectly fine, my dear. You know, you should think of going into the surrogate program." she said.

"Why?" I asked.

"You're a nice woman. We like nice people, here," she said. Her fingers began tapping on my uncovered belly. Her grin began to become even more unsettling, and she continued "You could birth so many healthy babies. In fact, you could even become Kovarian's personal surrogate mother."

"Wait, what?" I said. She laughed rather alarmingly .

"Sorry, just a thought," she said.

"Well, maybe keep your thoughts to yourself," I said.

I thought I saw a flash of anger cross her face. But then her face softened, and she said "Of course. Your baby's very healthy, by the way. See you later." She walked to the door, and began to leave. Before she left, she turned around.

"Oh, and tell your friend River I said 'hi'," she said, grinning more than ever.

By the time I realized what was wrong with what she had said, she had already left.