Thanks for the reviews so far, for my Doctor Who story. I much appreciate them. I got story ideas to last two more chapters. Hope you enjoy reading Chapter 4.
Doctor Who: Just You Watch Him Run
Chapter 4
"River, I don't remember giving you the title of Queen of the TARDIS. Unless I'm supposed to somewhere, further down my timeline." The Doctor wasn't fooled at all by, whatever his wife's claims were, regarding one of her nicknames for her, whenever she was on board the TARDIS.
Even for him, some parts of his relationship with his wife were still not as straightforward as he thought they appeared to be. She was younger, much younger than last time and he was much older than last time, however husband and wife were still capable of sharing a mutual love for each other.
"Spoilers, Sweetie." She places a finger over her lips.
"Just for the record, River. I may be older, well much older than the last time you seen me but let this be a warning to you, I enjoy having plenty of tricks up my sleeve, when it comes to finding out Spoilers" He wanted to get a few facts straight before, she attempted to make mischief once more.
While he was talking to her, he had clearly failed to notice the TARDIS has unexpectedly grounded to a sudden halt and it was up to River, to update him on this important matter.
"I don't want to alarm you but we've stopped. Shields are stable, as far as I can see." The mood changes from general flirting to action stations within a matter of seconds. River acts calmly as, she re-examines the console, the computer screen, it's buttons, the levers and everything else.
"It, could it be possible, we've already landed, 495 years later into the future. Oh, you'll love Space Rollerblading, once you get the hang of it, my love." She came to an easy conclusion, this might obviously be the actual case.
"Space Rollerblading? Ha, I can barely stand up straight on a hoverboard." He wasn't too keen on the thought of constantly falling over, while trying to keep his balance on roller-blades. He depicts his reason for not wanting to take part in this activity, by pointing two fingers of his right hand and his two fingers of his left hand, down at his feet.
"I didn't say we were going to, Sweetie. Did you know, circus acts can do performances in mid air? The ground takes them move up and take you with them. You can watch the usual circus tricks being performed in the air for 20 minutes."
"No, I didn't know this. It's been too long since I last visited the Circus. I don't see why we can't attend one Circus performance together." She awards him, by overwhelmingly hugging him again. River really couldn't get enough of this hugging business between them - which hardly surprised her husband, who had known how lively and feisty she can be.
"Oh, I knew you were bound to come round eventually. It was just a matter of time."
"River, stop it."
"Stop what?"
The Doctor's wonderful half-alien/half-human mind, suddenly had it's lightbulb moment, as he wandered around the console, towards her. "You're doing that thing again, with your eyes and your lips and quite frankly it's very, very wrong, River."
River places her hand flatly across her left hip, while her eyes were keenly examining his body language. Soon enough she gathers, he was proving very difficult for her to read. Clearly traveling for so long and having not stopped running, had left a thought-provoking and stirring effect upon him. Still thoroughly being loved and respected by those closest to him within the last hundred, if not a thousand years, wasn't such a problem for him whatsoever.
He looks as if, he had been eternally longing for real affection for too long. Clara had no doubt, effectively helped to reawaken and soften his deepest and darkest of feelings.
"I'm not doing anything. It's just as figure of expression, no naughty intentions meant within it." River squeezes his hand to reassure him. The two of them both manage to pick the same moment, to glance down to see her thumb stroking his knuckles. He began to ease and perhaps relish the feel of her soft, smooth hand holding onto his hand.
"Now... ahem... where were we?" The wonderful look in his eyes was rather pleasant and charming to witness. Especially the way, his body language was quickly able to adapt to, his wife's hand upon his hand and whenever she used her hand to caress the warmth of his cheek with. Clearly seeing him looking ever so distracted and adoring the touch of her hand, left her trying to fight back a few tears from within her eyes.
"I believe, we were about to investigate what lies on the other side of the TARDIS doors. Hopefully we are, where we are. I've never been wrong on calculations before." River oozes enough confidence, when it came to Science and Mathematics combined. She was sure, he knew what marvelous and ingenious tactics, she was capable of having up her sleeve.
"You do realize, this is your fault for fluttering those eyelashes of yours at me. A Time Lord's weakness almost tends to lead him or her ashtray but at the end of the day, we can one step ahead of the pack." The Doctor found an excusable way to tell River, a few home truths. They were bickering like a proper married couple again and boy he did relish this familiar scenario between the two of them.
"Says the man, who ran for the Welsh hills, when you incurred the wrath of Strax's Sontaran friends in the late 17th Century, after a game of Snap!" She brought to mind, one mistake he made once, after he had taken River on her first trip to Victorian London. He had left her high and dry for two days, after fleeing from Strax's furious friends.
"What was I suppose to do, volunteer myself for a Sontaran revenge ritual. Besides I've heard rumours, they're very entertaining and harmless nowadays or back in Victorian London."
"It's a wonder, how on earth Strax's friends Brax and Dax haven't got themselves arrested, for the crimes of hosting these rituals of theirs." She said, with an obvious air of frustration. Watching his wife venting her dismay and disapproval was, amusing to see.
"Sontarans will be Sontarans, same as Zygones will be Zygones. They both never change; even if they mutually claim they have. Strax's different, he has human-like feelings and that's what I mainly like about him." He details what he found the most intriguing about his remarkably brave yet lacking of tact, Sontaran friend.
"oh dear, It's finally happening." River's delight is clearer to see, even from as far away as Mars.
"What is?" The Doctor asks her, making it apparent, he was likely around a minute or two behind her, on this realization.
"You're trying to strike up a Bromance with Strax, without even realizing you and him being in the same room, let alone the same period of time."
She just about succeeded, in being able to stick to her stance of not making fun at his expense. Without much fuss or questionable doubts, The Doctor was now offering his hand, for her to grab onto, as they left the TARDIS together.
"Humans and their interpretation of Male friendships, as ridiculous as it sounds - It does make for good tv, The Only Way is Essex."
River let go of his hand immediately and decides to quiz on his latest opinion . "Please don't tell me, you actually watch that god awful tv show?"
"Of course not. Don't be silly." The Doctor instantly shrugs off her question in typical fashion, which didn't surprise her one little bit. She didn't see the point in them messing around and so, she laced her fingers with his, more securely this time. They caught each other's gaze, right on cue. River's was so overwhelming, which causes The Doctor's marvelous yet intense eyebrows to start twitching in anticipation.
"Are you ready, River?" Why was he asking her, he knows the answer like the back of his hand.
"Oh you know me, Sweetie. I've been ready and waiting for too long." Without guessing, the two of them were both thinking along the same line; She wonders why on earth, she was telling her husband something, he probably already knows.
"I thought you'd say that. Let's go." He locked eyes with her briefly before lifting her left hand up to his lips and placing a butterfly-soft kiss across her fingertips. They trade individual affectionate looks between each other before they left the TARDIS together hand-in-hand. He was certainly behaving with loyalty and poise, as he walks alongside her. He felt he could finally relax better in her company.
xxxx
River and The Doctor were now sitting on by a countryside lake in Oxford 2075, it was this year, as far as they know, after they'd both read the reading of the yea,r on the computer monitor. Hologram boats and hologram magnetic projections were a favorable tradition of a future. This new version of Earth didn't seem far different from the technology and ways of living in the present day version of Earth.
"She tricked us. I'm telling you River, The TARDIS tricked us." Believing the Old Girl was misbehaving again, he raised his suspicions about why she had possibly transported them through the Earth's timeline instead of through the Cosmic Calendar.
"Well not exactly." River decides to own up with a confession, she was regretting going behind his back on this co-ordinated journey. She felt certain, he would respond by being tremendously angry with her.
"River, what do you mean by that?" His two hearts slowly sank, with the fear of betrayal. Ashildr had betrayed him, he hoped to God, River hadn't done the same.
"I brought you here, in the hope you can confront the last of your demons. I know you told me, you're coping with the thought of losing friends. However you still have that look of I'm not giving up. Remember you did the same thing, when you tried to search for my mother and father, only your search was to no avail. I should have stopped you back then but now I'm righting the wrongs by helping to show you, breaking the rules should always remain in your vocabulary."
He agreed with her, without any hint of hesitation. He couldn't find any reason to feel angry with her. After all, she had only been thinking of doing things in his best interests. The Time Lord, looked to his right hand side and thoughtfully watched her.
"History keeps repeating itself for me, River. It doesn't like me and I don't like it. A twist of fate is a guilt-trip for those who've seen it happen far too often. I just can't undo, what happens each and every time but I can always find a sensible way around seeing Clara and Donna one last time. I still think about Donna and how her biggest hobby of all was, to put me in my place. She's married and she's a mother. In fact, she owns her customer service business in Canary Wharf. I miss her like I miss Clara. I'm probably boring you, aren't I. Mentioning her name, makes me wish I hadn't overlooked the foreshadowing staring me right in the face."
The Doctor felt the need to unlock the real emotion behind his loneliness, hoping this cause of action might do him, the world of good.
For the second time, he'd brought up another of his weaknesses. "Clearly you need to remember the importance of being a Time Lord. You cannot keep punishing yourself forever because you'll be playing your vulnerability into the hands of one of your many enemies and trust me the consequences will be far worse for you than ever. You should know this by now anyway."
They had been talking for so long on the bench, so much so they'd forgotten where they were and lost track of their surrounding and also had failed to detect Oswin Oswald, standing right behind them with a 10 year old boy.
"You're a Time what?" Oswin looked blatantly baffled by what she had overheard these two strangers speaking about very loudly and especially in front of her young nephew.
"Clar..." He recognized the voice in a matter of seconds. He glanced over his shoulder to see if it really was her. Once he did, he started to doubt it was and assumed it might be Oswin Oswald, an earlier version of her before she joined the crew of the Starliner "Alaska" as a Junior Entertainment Manager.
River too, was taken back, by the surprise appearance of this young brunette, who matched the description - her husband had used to describe his deceased friend. She could see her husband struggling to take his eyes off, this woman standing in front of him.
"Why are you both looking at me like that?" She curiously asked, not liking the odd looks, they were giving her.
River "It's nothing. Come on Jim, we've got get back home." River tried to talk him into leaving straight away. He wasn't budging, so she resorted to squeezing his bicep.
"River you're squeezing my bicep too tightly, ow!" He shot River a What are you thinking? look and attempted to fend off any likely further attempts by her, to squeeze his other arm.
"I'll leave you both alone." Oswin clearly felt spooked by the couple's odd behavior around her and so quickly left with her nephew Alex.
"No...No...don't leave, please don't." He desperately called to her but she never thought to look back at him.
"That wasn't Clara was it?" Body language was a common factor with River Song and she was becoming aware of his
"No, it's another version of her. She's got the same surname as Clara, Oswin Oswald but what's she doing in Oxford. I've met her before, well slightly later into her timeline. She was the only survivor of her crew on the Alaska, after it crashed on the Asylum. She jumped into my previous self's timeline, just so she can restore. If that's not the makings of a dedicated and true friend, than I don't know what is." Maybe chasing after Oswin for answers which weren't there, wasn't the right thing to do. To her, he was simply just a stranger with a bonkers mind.
River gently rested her head on his shoulder. They'd traveled everywhere together and yet, one bit of sudden curiosity, succeeded in getting the upper hand over her - How had their conversation been fully overheard so well, especially by Oswin and why had this young woman taken a rather peculiar interest, in walking up behind them, in the first place.
"If Oswin's here in Oxford. Well, there's a chance, she hasn't considered the choice of signing herself up for the Alaska expedition yet."
"I can't be the person, who becomes responsible for her eventual choice - at whatever point this happens in the early part of her young life. There are rules, River. Rules that I can't be breaking again, no matter how badly I want to break them."
"You and your rules. You're forgotten something, Sweetie. She doesn't even know your name or mine. You can still go to her." Having quietly taken things into consideration, by weighing up the dos and don'ts, The Doctor feels he couldn't press on with doing the conventional thing, like he normally prefers to do - getting himself out of scrapes at the last minute, working the wonders of his mind directly via meditation nowadays, which enables him to devise a suitable solution.
"No, I've got a better suggestion in mind." Still The Time Lord had a secret liking for skirting around troubles - assuming he was going to win at the end of the day, of course.
She removes her head up off his shoulder and glances up at him. She pleasantly smiled, once she recognizes one of his recurring mannerisms. "I know that look and I can't say I'm not surprised by it."
Forest Avenue - Camden, London
After her trip to Oxford for the weekend, Oswin Oswald was returning home. She lives alone. She works part time as a waitress in a diner. She has no career ambitions as of yet. Her two best friends regularly travel to wintery climates throughout the world. She longs to join them on one of their travels but never gets the chance of asking her friends.
She steps into her house, blissfully unaware her movements are under surveillance and what potential trouble is lying in store for her, courtesy of two male charity workers who weren't appearing to be very humanely not human themselves, as they approach Oswin's home.
River and The Doctor were able to track where Oswin Oswald lived, thanks to another of his really, really cool gadgets, aptly named "The Forecaster". The Doctor furrowed his brows, once he acknowledges the unwanted attention he's getting from three nosy school kids on the other side of the road.
"Okay, I hold my hands up. I was completely wrong and you were right. I concur because I can see how you're the genius when it comes to actually getting us both somewhere and out of trouble." She was talking as if, she had the sneaky intention of putting a spin on what she had just told him.
"Why, thank you. I suppose this where you're about to reverse what you've just told me, aren't you? - All in the name of Reverse Psychology."
"How did you guess?... Oh my god...Look over there." They'd become too occupied within their conversation, to not see these two charity workers, who were frightening Oswin on her front doorstep. When they did take heed of what was happening, The Doctor suddenly plays the action hero, as he sprints into action, much to his wife's clear exasperation.
The Doctor ran as fast as he could, chasing after the two men who he believes to be two trouble-making Zygons in disguise. Meanwhile River crosses the road and walks up to the front of Oswin's home.
"You again? Where's your crazy husband? Have you both been following me because if you have, I swear "I'll phone the Police on the two of you." Oswin refuses to accept help from
"No, we haven't. We just fancied a week long break in Oxford and London. Please don't think of him as a strange man. He's not as bad as you believe he is. He's just "
"Oi, come here you bloody blobby bastards..." The Doctor couldn't keep up with them and so he resorts to yelling with such anger, which did him no favors, as an elderly woman decided to wallop him with her handbag. He couldn't really fight his corner.
River can't help but sympathize with her. What she's about to ask. She doesn't know whether The Doctor will feel glad or monumentally disappointed with her, for meddling in Oswin's life. "My husband knew a woman named Clara, you don't happen to be any relation to her, are you by any chance? "
"Clara? My grandmother was called Clara. Died before I celebrated my 5th birthday." She explained, with the deepest of sadness and regret.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. You should probably read this then." River hands her an envelope, containing a handwritten letter from The Doctor. "Sorry, I can't stay. I have go and find the other half, see where he's wandered off too." River let herself out of Oswin's house. She gave her a surprising hug on the front doorstep before she properly left.
She got to end of the curved pavement in the street and placed both her hands on her hips. "- Honestly that man, he certainly relishes any opportunity of doing a disappearing act. Where the bloody hell is he, for gods sake?- " She rolls her eyes and taps her left foot impatiently. Clearly she wasn't willing to play the waiting game with him and so she takes the decision to head back to the TARDIS, to see whether he was waiting for her outside or inside his machine.
A certain time later, she was strolling by park swings and the sight of a tall and skinny looking man with a burgundy jacket stumbling back and forth, instantly caught her attention. He sees her too, after he glances over his shoulder and sees her standing alongside on the monkey bars.
"Ah you're probably seeking an explanation I got ganged up on by two female pensioners just because they couldn't accept my inappropriate language."
River suddenly snorts with laughter. The sound of her alluring laughter soon warms the depth of his hearts up, even though he's still feeling understandably embarrassed about what happened with the two pensioners.
"I did warn you about your language and look where it gets you, a straight red card from elderly residents in that street. Oh, you're such a badly behaved and man. Next time, I will do the running and show you how to catch Slitheen or Zygons dressed in human form." She momentarily resorts to throwing playful remarks at him before composing herself.
The Doctor and River strolled over towards the swings and seated themselves on the swinging seats. "So did you give Oswin my letter?"
"Yes. She was reluctant at first. I got her to open up more to me and it turns out Clara is...was her grandmother." River really wasn't sure, on how she was going to explain part of the conversation, she had shared with Oswin. It didn't take her long, to come up with a better plan. - Not saying nothing at all, for the time being.
"That can't be possible." The Doctor's mouth falls open with shock. He knows he's been here before, in his younger life with Rose Tyler and remembers the constant heartbreak he went through afterwards, after losing her.
"It is when you find yourself in an alternative universe, where Clara never died and Oswin actually exists. Although when I say this here, it means she won't exist in the real universe." Seeing as River had chosen to research Alternative timelines along with her Archaeology studies. She had uncovered secrets and tricks of getting out of them, without causing damage to the fabric of time - in a way, it was still frowned upon as cheating the depths of time but without any lasting harm.
"So myself, your mother and your father originally entered an Alternative version of the Dalek Asylum without even knowing it but still we got out of unscathed thanks to Oswin." The Doctor recalls the moment, where his younger body had felt tremendous gratitude and also the deepest of sorrow, upon wondering how she had lost her life to a Dalek.
"She's a heroine but she doesn't quite know it yet." River tells herself.
He manages to compose himself better and decides he would like to remember Oswin Oswald as a brave, courageous and none quitter when it came to not giving up on your friend, like her grandmother did with him. "I don't want to even dwell on, how the Daleks manage to eventually inflict a painful death on her in the Asylum, I just would like to remember her as the heroine she soon becomes later in life, the woman who saves my life and who I will always think of as The Impossible Girl."
"Nicely put, my love." River expresses how proud she is of him. They embrace. She hugs him close to her and he doesn't
Oswin unfolds the letter, handwritten especially for her, courtesy of The Doctor.
Dear Oswin
I'm not very good when it comes to writing letters but I hope with me writing this one to you, will help you to understand, what it is I have to say. I never got to tell you, how your grandmother was such an exceptionally fearless young woman, when I first met her. I see your potential too, Oswin. One day, you can follow in your grandmother's footsteps and achieve the greatest of ambitions, one human can achieve in a lifetime. I'm not saying you should become Prime Minister of Great Britain or President of the World(That title is taken I'm afraid...by me.) What I'm trying to say is, your grandmother loved traveling, enough to broaden her experiences of life and different moments of time. I think you should always be proud of her and you should take up the things she loved too. We may meet again soon one day, sooner than you think perhaps. All I can say is, stay safe and keep running you clever girl.
Best Wishes
Doctor John Disco"
End of Chapter
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