Hello! It's been a super long time since I've updated this, but I'm back at it now! Hope you enjoy :)

Chapter 3

Quite early in her life, Nella had accepted that there were quite a number of things she couldn't do. Not falling over, unfortunately, was one of them.

Weak ankles, maybe? She wasn't completely sure, but she had basically fallen over everywhere. The middle of a car park? Done it. Cross country? Yup. Stumbled down a cliff only to land in a pile of rocks? More than once, unfortunately. It wasn't that she fell over all the time, just at the most inconvenient of times.

So when asked to steal things from places with guards, she usually made sure she locked them all in a room before she made her escape. Unfortunately, this was not part of River's plan. So when Nella stumbled in the corridor only two rooms away from where she had picked up the artefacts, it was incredibly inconvenient but not at all surprising.

She groaned loudly as she hit the floor. The artefact fell from her hands and landed with a clattering noise a few feet away from her. Well, Nella guessed it was a few feet, but the fact that River had turned all the power out meant that she couldn't really see what she was doing. She got to her knees and began searching for the box, feeling around the floor blindly.

Her heart began to race when she heard footsteps, distant but definitely heading in her direction. She scrambled around, desperately trying to find the artefact. Her fingers brushed against the cool metal and she felt a wave of relief was over her, but it was short lived as the footsteps became even louder.

She looked around, squinting in the dim light, and saw what looked like a cupboard a few meters in front of her. Oh, how much easier life would have been if she was short.

She quickly pulled open one of the doors and climbed inside. It was a lot smaller than the one River had dragger into earlier and she had to crouch down, folding her legs underneath her. She placed the artefact on her lap and the doors just as a group of guards rounded the corner.

Nella sat in the cupboard for what seemed like hours, curled up in a tight ball with the artefact pressing into her stomach. Her legs, which had stopped tingling after 20 minutes, were now completely numb, and her arms were aching from holding herself up.

She jumped slightly when a line of light appeared between the hinges of the cupboard door. She wondered if River would come looking for her, or if she'd just leave her there to deal with things herself. Sure, River had seemed intent on stealing the artefact, but it wouldn't be the first time someone had deserted her when things went wrong.

Her eyes widened when she heart footsteps in the hall outside. They sounded like they were coming towards her and Nella really didn't want to be found by security before she'd come up with some sort of excuse as to why she was there.

The footsteps stopped just outside the cupboard door and she froze, holding her breath. A minute later, the cupboard opened to reveal a grinning River Song.

"Well, this is an interesting hiding spot. Are you going to come out anytime soon?"

Nella shrugged.

"Well, to be honest I'm sure I can even move my legs. Here." She handed River the artefact and attempted to climb to her feet, only to have her legs give way. She fell back into the shelf with a loud thud, swearing loudly. River hushed her.

"Language, dear. Don't want the guards hearing us. They're in a meeting. They think it was a power failure, so they're going on about how they can stop it from happening again."

When Nella's legs finally started working, she stood and River held out her arm.

"Come on. Let's get out of here."

She motioned for Nella to place her hand on the vortex manipulator. Nella sighed and obliged, though she wasn't looking forward to using it again.

When the two appeared it was morning. Nella looked around. They were on top of what looked like a cliff, and beneath them waves crashed against the rocky slope.

"Where are we?"

River shrugged.

"Some random cliff somewhere. Doesn't really matter where, we just need to get rid of this." She held up the artefact, then handed it to Nella. She frowned.

"What do you want me to do?"

River took her gun out of its holster and fiddled with it for a moment before responding.

"When I say so, throw the artefact up, high as you can, and over the edge. Got it?"

Nella hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Okay, ready?"

"I guess."

"Now!"

With all her strength, Nella threw the artefact up, over the cliff face and watched as river shot it. The cube disintegrated before her eyes. She watched as the dust floated through the air and eventually landed in the water below.

"Well, that's something you don't see everyday." Nella said, eventually.

River laughed.

"You mean that's something you don't see everyday. 51st century technology." She said, pointing to the gun. "Now, though I'm sure you would love to hang around and steal more things from that museum, how about I take you home?"

Nella laughed.

"I'd like that." She said.

She placed her hand on River's arm and, a moment later, the two disappeared.