a/n: Sorry it's been so long! On the bright side, we keep forgetting to tell you that there's another story out about Renee! There's a picture in the back of River's diary of Renee as a baby with her mother. The story behind that picture is in our fic: Stargazing. It's in my fics.
There are also a few pictures of Renee on my DeviantArt. I can't post links in a story, but I have some on my profile if you're interested.
Now onto the good stuff!
Disclaimer: We do not own Doctor Who.
Chapter Nine
After Renee had calmed down, she leaned against the wall and watched the ceiling light buzz, still paying close attention to her breaths.
"Better?" River asked. Her voice was merely a mumble by this point. Renee glanced up at her and found her leaning against the wall. Her eyes were heavy lidded and her skin was pale.
"Yes," she admitted, "But I think you need to get to bed."
River shook her head. "No. It's okay."
"You're exhausted."
River didn't respond.
"Please? I'll help you." Renee still felt shaky, but she was better off than her mother. She stood and held her hand out for River to take.
"You can take another minute to compose yourself."
"I don't need one."
River seemed unsure but she finally took Renee's hand.
Most of River's weight was on the fifteen year old, and she struggled a bit. They didn't fall, but their walk was slow and jarring.
The TARDIS made the bedroom close though, and Renee pushed the door open the rest of the way to find two full sized beds set up on each side of a nightstand. There was a bookshelf on the left of the door filled with books and a couch on the right.
Renee led River to the bed on the right and helped her into it. River was clearly ready to sleep, but she murmured, "I don't want to."
"I know," Renee said.
"Are you going to?"
She almost laughed. "No."
"Please." She motioned to the bed opposite her. "You're tired too. I can tell."
She shook her head. "No. I'm fine." She was tired, but she really didn't want to attempt sleep at that moment. "I'll sleep later."
The Doctor came in and saw what was going on. "Oh good. You're in bed."
River nestled into the sheets. "Mmm... Come lay with me, Sweetie."
"Well..."
"Oh right. No touching. Can you lay near me?"
He hesitantly approached, and River watched him, looking hopeful. Her eyes were barely open and her cheeks were still pale. The Doctor didn't seem to know what to do with a vulnerable River. "Um..."
"Alright." She yawned. "I'll just sleep."
He hesitantly crawled onto the bed, staying on top of the covers. Renee started to back out of the room. "I'll just go. Let you two, um, cuddle."
"What about sleeping?" River mumbled.
"I'll find somewhere else."
Renee went to the kitchen, picking up the plate with the leftover cookies as she walked. When she got there, she went right to the sink.
"Hey," she heard behind her. Renee turned to see Clara at the table. She was bumping her heels against the bottom rung of the chair.
"Hi," Renee answered.
"Did you get River to bed?"
She nodded and redirected her attention back to the plate.
"She'll be okay, you know. The Doctor is." Clara tried to comfort Renee, but it didn't work. She knew River would heal. She was only concerned about the nightmares.
"I'm not worried about her regenerating. I know how that works."
She could feel Clara's eyes watching her, and when the plate was clean, she swiveled back around.
"What?"
"She doesn't know you're her daughter, does she?"
Renee looked down. "How do you say that to someone?"
"You told The Doctor, right?"
She nodded. "That's different. I can't just confront her like that. She's still recovering, and I don't think she'll want me to have seen her like this."
"The longer you wait, the worse it will feel." Clara said.
Renee put away the plate and sat at the table across from her. "I know. It's just hard to say it."
Clara sighed. "Don't I know it. Talking about your issues is almost as hard as having them in the first place sometimes."
"You know my issue."
Their eyes met, and Clara was the first to look away. "No one knows mine."
"Really? That must be hard."
She nodded. "Yeah, but like you said, I don't know how to say it."
"You can tell me."
Clara shook her head. "I don't know you."
"You just watched two panic attacks. I'd call that knowing someone." Renee said ruefully.
Clara seemed to consider this for a moment. Then she stood, her face going blank. "Well, that's different."
"Why? Because you have a choice?"
"No. Because yours forces you to show it. Mine doesn't."
"So... You do have a choice." Why couldn't she just say it? Maybe if she heard something else from Renee, she'd talk, but Renee couldn't think of anything personal she felt comfortable enough to share.
"No. That's not what I meant."
Clara left the room, and Renee bit her lip. There was clearly something going on. Something was wrong, but who was Renee to offer help? She had her own problems: a lot of them. If she couldn't deal with her own, how could she expect to deal with someone else's?
But Clara wasn't going to talk unless she was pushed, and there was no one else doing that.
Renee sighed and got up from the table. Maybe she would sleep. It didn't seem like much good to stay up all night now. Mom would wake up, and Renee would be too tired to make a worthwhile situation out of the whole ordeal.
She didn't have time to find a room before the TARDIS lurched violently, throwing her forward into the wall with a cry of pain.
She saw The Doctor run past, only missing his shoes. "No, no, no, no!"
Renee quickly stood and followed him into the console room. A strange alarm was shrieking noises that made her ears feel like they were bleeding, and the monitor kept flashing on and off.
"What's going on?" she shouted.
Help me, Idris begged in her mind. I'm sorry.
"Sorry for what?"
"She's not in control!" The Doctor snarled.
Renee desperately pounced on the controls. Nothing could happen now. Enough had happened tonight. Too much had happened.
She pressed every button she knew might help and some she was unsure of, but nothing made any difference. "What's wrong with you?"
I'm sorry...
Clara appeared in the doorway and went straight for the railing to defend from the incessant thrashing. "Doctor, what's happening?"
"I don't know! Something must be controlling her from the outside."
Renee couldn't get a good enough look at the screen. She ran to the door and stood on her toes to look out the lowest window. "Doctor, we're moving towards a ship."
He rushed over and yanked the doors open. The huge metal contraption looked like something out of a bad si-fi film. "So we are. Who are they?"
Renee assumed this was a rhetorical question, since he was asking the human and the fifteen year old who only traveled to avoid sleep, but she answered anyway. "I don't know."
Clara looked over and said, "Whoever they are, they're either desperate or dreadful."
"I'd assume the latter," The doctor muttered.
From behind, Renee heard another voice. "That's new."
She turned to see River standing in the doorway. Rather, she slumped against the frame of the door and held tightly to its border for support. Her skin was ghastly, and she looked just as rested as before.
"River!" The Doctor ran over to her. "You should be in bed."
She waved him off. "What's with you being a pessimist? I thought that was my job."
The ship had almost stabilized again. River stood upright and made her way to the console, keeping to the edge of the walkway where the railing was and holding on tight as she went down the stairs.
Renee could tell from her actions that she felt quite bad, but her face spoke only of curiosity, and her posture was confident again. She casually leaned her hip against the console and looked out the door. "Oh, goodness."
"Do you recognize the ship?" The Doctor asked.
Renee looked back at it, trying to see if she could identify it, but she found herself once more only confused.
"No," River said, "But anyone who can shut down a TARDIS has power and knowledge that should only be possible through us. If we don't know them, who are they?"
"Maybe we do," Renee offered. "Maybe they've just upped their game: got a new ship and some new technology."
The Doctor looked unsure, but he went back to the console and started pressing buttons again. "I don't think we want to know."
"Oh, sweetie. You've lost your sense of adventure too?"
He studied River who watched him with tired yet smug eyes. "No, but you are in no condition to be traveling."
Clara seemed to take that as incentive enough to close the doors.
"Well, that's what we're doing, so I suppose you have no choice." River leaned on the console, jutting out a hip. Renee was certain she did it to make it look more like a means of flirting, rather than support.
"Which is why," Renee put together, "You're acting fine."
River sent Renee a warning look, and she grinned back. She was right, and they both knew it. "I said I'm fine."
But she pushed off the console, went to the stairs, and sat heavily on the bottom step
"Bed," The doctor told her with a definite point at the hallway. "Now."
She frowned.
"Melody," he said, his expression turning resolute.
River's face blanched, and she stood, holding tightly to the railing. "No, Doctor. I am not going back to sleep." Her expression was serious now.
Her name had triggered something. Renee quickly realized she'd had another nightmare. There was no getting River back to bed after two in a row. "Just listen to her."
"But-"
"She's not going to listen to you." Renee went to stand beside her mother, both to show her support and to catch her if she fainted.
He took Renee's wrist. "If she has the option to play healthy, she will for as long as possible."
River rolled her eyes. "She can hear you."
The Doctor kept his eyes locked onto Renee's for a moment, then turned to River. "Only self centered people talk in third person."
"Glad to know," she said. "I'll tell you the next time you're being self-centered."
The TARDIS lurched violently again, throwing them all off their feet. River landed hard on Renee, and she heard and felt her mother's breathing against her ear as she attempted to get up. It was fast and ragged.
The Doctor pulled River into a standing position, freeing Renee to move again.
"Go to bed," he said.
She leaned heavily against the console, a hand in her hair. "I lost my equilibrium, but it's coming back."
Renee managed to stand again and watched River anxiously. "If you want-"
"Wait!" The Doctor turned to the doors and pushed past Clara to get to them. "We've stopped."
They had. Renee had been focused too much on her mom to notice.
Before she could ask, Clara said, "Where?"
He had his face against the windows before the question left Clara's lips.
Then he immediately backed up.
"Where are we?" Renee questioned.
He ran back to the console and furiously started trying to get her to fly again, but it wasn't working.
In fact, the screen finally shut off, and all the lights faded.
Everything was dark. The normal hum had stopped.
Panic flooded Renee so suddenly, she instantly feared an attack, but it left pretty quickly, leaving only a fast beating heart and general terror. Something horrible was happening, and Renee didn't think they were close to well equipped.
River slid into a seated position on the floor. Renee's eyes hadn't yet adjusted to the darkness, but the air was so silent, she heard every movement with ease. "River, are you okay?"
"Yes. Fine." Her answer was fast but quiet. She didn't know if that was because she was weak or if the quiet just made her as nervous as it did Renee.
"Doctor?" Clara murmured, "What's happened?"
"They drained her power completely." From his voice, Renee could tell that his face was in his hands again. The dim light from the windows in the door let her see vague shapes, but she wasn't going to go and comfort him.
"What does that mean?" Clara asked.
"It means," he said, "That we are not only dealing with someone who is immensely powerful and impossibly knowledgeable; we have no escape."
"Shouldn't you be used to that by now?" Clara said.
"Not with them."
There was a sharp rap on the door, and a female voice, oddly familiar to Renee despite not knowing who it was, called out, "Exit the TARDIS. Now. We know you're in there."