Disclaimer: Not my sandbox, not my toys. I'm just playing with them. :)

Author's Note: This chapter has a shout-out line to tkelparis' Shakespearean Cupids...which coincidentally inspired this story to exist in the first place, so it felt appropriate to come full-circle, so to speak, now that I've finally gotten into the Library. Very amusing to see your beta go 'Squee!' because you put in an homage line, let me tell you :D Love ya, tkel!

Love to all you reviewers and readers!

Chapter 10: Shadows on the March

The Doctor and Jenny skidded to a halt in the other room, and both of them saw immediately why River had shouted for them: Proper Dave only had one shadow now. Jenny hung back a tad, eyes narrowed in thought as she tried to think of another reason he'd only have one shadow, other than the obvious; her dad on the other hand, went to investigate up close and personal.

"Where did it go?" The Doctor asked, his annoyance at his daughter's disobedience leaking into his query a trifle.

Proper Dave shrugged. "It's just gone. I...I looked around, one shadow. See?"

"Does that mean we can leave now?" River asked, finally on edge as the immensity of the situation made itself known. "I don't want to hang around here."

"I don't know why we're still here," Mr Lux snapped. "We can leave him, can't we? I mean, no offence..."

"Oh shut up," Jenny said, nearly simultaneously with River Song. She continued alone, however. "We're not leaving anyone behind, that's the whole point of this. No one left behind. Not. Even. You," She finished, glaring at the butterball who was almost as annoying as the flirt.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was still trying to figure out what had happened, and hoped it wasn't what he was afraid of. "Did you feel anything? Like an energy transfer? Anything at all?"

"No, no, but look, it's...it's gone," Proper Dave started to turn around, trying to show the Doctor that he was right, that he was clear.

"Stop there, stop, stop, stop there, stop moving! They're never just gone, and they never give up!" He knelt down and started scanning shadows with his sonic again.

Off to the side, Jenny was watching her dad and hoping he'd find something, but she had a feeling that Proper Dave was doomed. Dad, stop. I think they're in the suit.

"Well, this one's benign," The Doctor said aloud, while he answered his daughter telepathically. Why? What makes you think that?

As Proper Dave asked who turned out the lights, Jenny sighed. Well, it was just a gut feeling, but I'm more certain now.

The Doctor groaned mentally, as verbally he told Dave that the lights were still on. Oh no, no, no. Oh Dave...

"No, seriously, turn them back on!" Proper Dave shouted in a panic.

"They are on." River Song said, attempting to calm him down.

"I can't see a ruddy thing!" Proper Dave complained.

"Dave, turn 'round." The Doctor asked, while backing away from him. And when he saw the darkness in Dave's helmet, he put himself between Dave and his daughter.

"What's going on? Why can't I see? Is the power gone, are we safe here?"

"Dave, I want you stay still, absolutely still." The Doctor and Jenny were the only ones who heard a faint -crunch- when Dave suddenly went stiff. Still, he felt he had to try and hold onto hope, even though he was pretty sure his daughter was right and it was useless. "Dave, Dave? Dave, can you hear me, are you all right? Talk to me, Dave."

"I'm fine, I'm OK, I'm... I'm fine." As Proper Dave's voice and her Dad communicated, Jenny sighed again and bit her lip. She'd seen the blinking lights on the communicator, and knew for certain that Dave was gone. Eaten by the Vashta Nerada. But how did they get into the bloody suit? The mesh density increase should have stopped that. Unless they already had a foothold before it was dialled up...or...well, they were carnivores that hadn't had a meal in over a hundred years. And that would make them persistent enough to wear away at a hundred little places to get inside to the meat once they'd targeted it.

"He's gone. He's ghosting." River sighed. That was two people gone in less than fifteen minutes. Rather a poor example of her leadership - it usually took the Doctor half an hour to start losing people that quickly. And that was if things were near-hopeless from the start...what had she done, coming here?

"Then why is he still standing?" Mr Lux snapped.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights? Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

Jenny grabbed her dad by the arm as he tried to get closer to Dave's standing suit. "No Dad. He's ghosting. He's been ghosting for the whole time since he went stiff. There's no point in getting closer - he's gone."

And as the Doctor opened his mouth to argue with his daughter, the light in the helmet finally came back on, revealing just a skull and the vertebrae of the neck. And yet, the arms of the suit snapped up, groping for something - someone - to attack, and the skeleton-in-a-suit started staggering forward. Slowly, awkwardly, but still making forward progress.

"Back away from it! Back back back back!" The Doctor shouted, pushing his daughter behind him. Thanks. It might have got me without you here.

Yeah, well, someone's got to keep you safe Dad. Jenny would have smirked, if they hadn't been in imminent danger. Glad I didn't let you send me away now?

Not really, no. I wanted and still want you safe, Little Star. he replied to his daughter. To River, who'd commented about the suited skeleton not moving very fast, he sniped. "It's a swarm in a suit. But it's learning."

"Yeah, I'd say it's learning," Jenny gulped as shadows suddenly popped up at the suited skeleton's feet and started oozing toward them. They were almost at the wall, and the Vashta Nerada's new party trick cut them off from dodging the skeleton Dave to get to an exit.

Fortunately River Song had a squareness gun, and cut them a hole right though the wall. Which they all promptly ran through, albeit with a silent argument between father and daughter over who should go last. Unfortunately, there apparently wasn't a way to close the hole behind them, so they had to go running down the shadowy, book-filled aisle to get away from the pursuing skeleton.

And if River Song didn't let go of her dad's hand soon, she was going to find a boot up her arse.

A little while later, father and daughter were fiddling with their sonics on a pair of lamps, creating a safe space for the rest of the group to catch a breather in, which they all seemed to desperately need. Except for River of course - but then, she had supposedly travelled with Dad before. Well, as long as she didn't interfere...or start flirting again...

"-trying to boost the power," he was saying to River as Jenny finished with her lamp, having boosted it as much as was safe to keep the bulb from blowing too quickly. "Light doesn't stop them, but it slows them down."

"Actually it could stop them," Jenny said as she joined her dad. "It's just the supplies we have won't hold up longer than five minutes under the drain and the power-channelling. Or that was my best calculation, given the type of torch we've got handy."

"Can it?" The Doctor was distracted from his fiddling, and beamed at his daughter. "Knew fresh eyes could make something of all that information! Brilliant!" Did you think about stabilizing the power drain with the sonic to create a feedback harmonic that would keep them going longer, Little Star?

Um, no, I didn't. I'll just do that now then...but that would only be ten minutes per torch, wouldn't it? And doesn't that woman understand safety versus resources? We'll have to move on sooner with her boosting the lamp like that. Bulb will only last five minutes max now. Her annoyance with River reminded Jenny that she'd never really gotten an answer as to why the woman didn't know her if she'd known her dad in the future. But she didn't want to upset her dad about it by reminding him of drastic possibilities, so she'd corner the woman later and get her answers.

But before Jenny could chime in on the conversation about River's screwdriver to note that River's screwdriver was bulkier and had extra bits, the subject turned to her mum and Jenny got very antsy. She knew her dad had taken into account the age of the teleport because he'd been very careful about fiddling with the controls and settings while trying to send them both away. So why hadn't the TARDIS signalled that she'd gotten there safely? She ran with her dad to the nearby Node, too worried to remind him that he'd told Mum earlier that it wasn't very useful.

"Donna Noble," the Doctor said to the Node as he got to it. "There's a Donna Noble somewhere in this Library. Do you have the software to locate her position?"

Both Time Lords felt their hearts freeze when the Node turned to reveal Donna's face. And it spoke, using Donna's voice to say. "Donna Noble has left the Library. Donna Noble has been saved."

Jenny leant into her dad's side, shocked, disturbed and heartbroken. And feeling her age of barely a month. "No...not Mum!"

His hearts feeling like they had just shattered, the Doctor absently wrapped his arm around his daughter pulling her closer to him. "Donna!"

The Node kept repeating as River Song came to stand beside the father and daughter. She understood a lot more now about the current emotional standings, but she'd deal with her feelings about that later. "How can it be Donna? How is that possible?"

The Doctor completely ignored River's questions, and reached up to caress the recreated cheek of the face of the woman he had to finally admit - at least to himself - that he loved. The woman he had most likely killed in his attempts to keep her safe. "Oh, Donna. What have I done?"

He absently wrapped his other arm around his daughter as well, some vague thought of keeping her from looking at the devastating sight percolating in the back of his mind. He didn't even notice the suited skeleton had popped up again, asking it's repetitive 'Hey! Who turned out the lights?' in counterpoint to the Node's repetitive 'Donna Noble has left the Library. Donna Noble has been saved'.

It took River Song pulling one of his arms off of Jenny to use to drag them along with the rest of the group, running from Skeleton Dave, to shake him even a little out of his frozen despair. They ran until they got hemmed in in a long length of aisle, Skeleton Dave at one end, and moving shadows at the other. River used her squareness gun again to cut a hole in the wall and chivvied everyone through it, paying special attention to the barely-there Time Lords.

And all the while, she had to battle a viciously biting, bitter jealousy of Donna Noble, who meant so much to the one man she trusted and loved above everything. He'd never told her anything about Donna, and that had always haunted her - was this why? Was her summons to the Library and Donna's loss why he wouldn't tell her? Because he thought she already knew?

Some time later, after they'd gone through the Nth hole cut in a wall by the squareness gun, they found a room with no lights, but a lovely view of the huge moon through the domed ceiling. The Doctor and his daughter had recovered themselves enough to be useful, scanning the shadows while River continued chivvying the rest of the group into doing safe things.

"There's no lights here. Sunset's coming, we can't stay long. Have either of you found a live one?" River asked, once she'd gotten Anita, Other Dave and Mr. Lux firmly planted in the light where their shadows wouldn't cross.

"Maybe, it's getting harder to tell," the Doctor replied. Father and daughter, on opposite sides of the circle, both shook their sonics and, in unison, asked. "What's wrong with you?"

"We're going to need a chicken leg then. Who's got a chicken leg?" River asked, to be handed one by Other Dave. "Thanks, Dave." And, once again, they got to see the rather disturbing sight of meat stripped off the bone before it could fall. "Okay. We've got a hot one. Watch your feet, everyone."

"They won't attack until there's enough of them, but they've got our scent now, they're coming." The Doctor said, then joined his daughter to examine both their sonics and have a private little chat while the others talked.

"I'm sorry I fell apart on you back there, Little Star." He murmured as he scanned her sonic for faults.

"S'okay Dad. I was worse - completely useless," Jenny managed a wan little smile as she watched him at work. "Do you...I mean, is there...is there any hope that Mum's still alive? Somehow, somewhere? Just maybe?"

"I don't know. I just...don't know." He sighed and shared a devastated look with his daughter before using her sonic to scan his. River joined them again, so he added, telepathically. But now I am so, so very glad I didn't send you with Donna. If I'd...

Dad, don't. It isn't your fault...you were just trying to keep us safe. It isn't your fault that something went wrong. Jenny managed a smile that only wobbled a little, then took her sonic back when her dad finished with it.

Still feels like it though. He managed a wan smile for his daughter, then answered River's question about the problem with the sonics. "There's a signal coming from somewhere, interfering with them."

"Then use the red settings." River said, as though it were obvious. And it was, to her.

"They don't have a red setting." The Doctor almost snapped, staring at her.

"Well, use the dampers then." River very nearly rolled her eyes. At any time, the Doctor was hard work, but even more so when he was this young! And Jenny...she'd never seen Jenny like this, all blonde and suspicious. Such a hard-edged...child, and not the snarky, amusing, auburn haired woman she knew best, who was always willing to give anyone and anything at least one chance. That, she realised with a sinking feeling, was probably Jenny's attempt to honour her adopted mother after the woman had passed on, and made her wonder if Jenny had learnt how to do what her father hadn't - control her regenerations.

"They don't have dampers either!" Jenny did snap, scowling at River Song. Who was this woman, really? Oh, she'd have to get answers soon, or the wondering would drive her mad!

Keeping her calm by force of will, River showed them both her sonic. "They will do one day."

Eyes narrowed suspiciously, the Doctor glanced over the Sonic before fixing on River. "So, sometime in the future, I just give you my screwdriver."

"Yeah." River smiled, carefully not looking at Jenny, who was glaring at either her or her screwdriver. Or, possibly, both - with a Jenny she'd never met, it was hard to say.

Jenny snorted. "Why would Dad do that?" But the future screwdriver was interesting, with it's dampers and red end opposite the blue end. She wondered what would lead to the development of unknown improvements to a pretty much does-everything gadget, then huffed, annoyed at herself. They'd figure it out in the future. Meanwhile, this was now, with a very annoying, secret-flaunting woman.

I wish she'd just give us a straight answer, Dad. I mean, I know she claims to be from your future, and she could skew everything by saying the wrong thing...but couldn't she find some way to be less annoying about it?

Looking at the Doctor, River answered Jenny's question - the same question she could see in his eyes. "I didn't pluck it from your cold dead hands, if that's what you're worried about."

"And I know that because...?" The Doctor scowled at River, and answered his daughter. I know you want answers from her - I do too! But you have to be very careful when you're crossing timelines. If she says the wrong thing, she could potentially wipe herself out of existence, and she obviously knows enough about time to know that. How she knows is still a big question though...

"Listen to me," River said. "You've lost your friend, you're angry, I understand. But the pair of you need to be less emotional. Right now-"

Jenny would have slapped River if she'd been one step closer. "She wasn't just a friend, she's my mum! And-" Jenny was halted by her dad's hand on her arm, or she may well have closed that single step needed during the rest of her planned rant to slap that cold-hearted fish of a woman.

"We're not emotional," the Doctor glared at River, hand tensed to pull Jenny back should she attempt to emulate Donna again.

"Right," River snorted, pointedly eyeing the hand that was still restraining his daughter. "There are six people in this room still alive, focus on that. Dear God, you're BOTH such hard work young!"

The Doctor's face crinkled into an expression of confusion and a bit of disgust. "Young? Who are you?!"

River's face softened unexpectedly, and she stepped closer to the agitated pair. "Doctor... one day I'm going to be someone that you trust completely, but I can't wait for you to find that out. So I'm going to prove it to you. And I'm sorry. I'm really very sorry." She leant in on the side that Jenny wasn't, and whispered in his ear. Then stepped back a pace and asked. "Are we good? Doctor... are we good?"

Face and mind slack in confusion and shock, the Doctor absently replied. "Yeah... Yeah, we're good."

After River left to return to the remainder of her team, Jenny shook her arm free of her dad's lax grip and stood in front of him. "Dad?" Dad, what did she say to you?

He didn't look at her for a long moment, and when he finally did, Jenny could have cried for the shock, confusion, and despair warring in his eyes. "I'm all right, Jenny." She said my name. My true name.

And what's that got to do with you looking so...well...so broken? Jenny shot an angry stare at River's back.

Later, Little Star. Later. Right now, he had to keep going. For Jenny's sake, and the hope that somehow he could rescue his best friend. So he squashed down all the conflicted feelings about River Song, and smiled apologetically at his daughter before whirling about and pacing back and forth, midway between his daughter and the rest of the group. "Know what's interesting about my screwdriver? Very hard to interfere with, practically nothing's strong enough...well, Donna's hairdryer, but I'm working on that. So there is a very strong signal coming from somewhere, and it wasn't there before, so what's new, what's changed?"

The rest of the group just looked at each other, confused. Jenny, meanwhile, eyed the surroundings. Books, books, and more books. And terminals - neither of which were a new thing. So she glanced up at the ceiling, wondering if there were more of those security cameras that might be broadcasting a different signal and had her attention caught by the moon. It looked a bit like Earth's moon, but was comparatively much, much larger given it's position in the sky. And it hadn't been up earlier...

She interrupted her dad being snarky at Other Dave for suggesting the oncoming night was the issue by clearing her throat. "Dad? Have you looked at the moon yet? It's huge. It could be a property of whatever the moon's composed of altering the reflected sunlight. Or there could be-"

"There could be a broadcast from it, brilliant!" The Doctor grinned proudly at his daughter, then turned to River and Mr. Lux. "Tell me about the moon. Is there anything there?"

Mr. Lux shrugged, not really wanting to talk about the computer setup. They were already too close to the secret he had to protect...still, if it would help figure out what had happened here... "It's not real, it was built as part of the Library. It's just a doctor moon."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow as his daughter joined him, then asked. "Aaannnd, a doctor moon is?"

"A virus checker," was the reluctant reply. Mr. Lux then continued. "It supports and maintains the main computer at the core of the planet. That's all it does, that's it's purpose."

Jenny turned on her sonic again and adjusted it to scan the signal from the moon, hoping to block it. "So, if we tune the sonic to block the signal from the moon - because I seriously doubt anyone in the Library is drying their hair with Mum's hairdryer - then maybe-" She made one more adjustment to the sonic, then gasped as a hazy image appeared. "Mum!"

"Donna!" The Doctor shouted, and stared at the image of the woman he loved staring gobsmacked at him and his daughter for the few seconds until it faded. "Jenny, what was the frequency?" Once he'd gotten the answer, father and daughter worked frantically with their sonic screwdrivers, desperate to see if they could determine how they'd gotten an image of their missing piece. And, more importantly, where their desperately loved and missed ginger was.

"Bother it all!" Jenny cried out, frustrated. "The signal keeps changing - it's fluxing at random!" She slapped her sonic against her palm in frustration and stared at her dad. What do we do now?

We keep going, of course. With hope now - somewhere, somehow, Donna's still alive! The pair shared a fiercely happy smile, but their moment to celebrate was cut short by a modicum of their attention latching onto Anita telling River Song she had two shadows.

They rejoined the group as everyone was re-donning their helmets, and the Doctor used his sonic on Anita's visor. And, though he ought not have, smirked just the tiniest bit when River gasped.

"That was clever, Dad," Jenny said, peering at the completely black visor. "Maybe they'll think they're already in there and leave her alone." She stepped back and gave the room another casual glance, then looked at her feet. Dad?

"Do you really think that will work?" River asked, staring at the two Time Lords. They were the only hope that she might get out of this with part of her team intact, after all. She was certainly failing at it...maybe it was time she gave up adventuring...

"Maybe, I don't know," The Doctor shrugged. "It's a swarm, it's not like we sit down and chat." He glanced at River, utterly serious. "But it's worth a try, don't you think?" What?

For the first time in some time, River Song smiled. Just a small one, though, and with a distinct lack of flirt. "Always."

Skeleton-Dave's back, Dad. Jenny casually ambled over to Other-Dave and Anita and Mr. Lux, and inconspicuously made sure they all had their packs on.

Bugger. He noted the flash of memory that Jenny had sent, then drew River aside. "Professor Song, could I have a moment?"

She raised an eyebrow as the Doctor drew her aside for a private moment. She knew this wasn't for sweet nothings, so what did he want to say? "What is it?"

In a low voice, the Doctor replied. "Like you said, there are six people alive in this room."

"Yeah, so?" River stared at him, wondering if she'd inadvertently cracked his hold on sanity, for him to draw her away to state the obvious in such low tones. The Doctor she was used to dropped the most disturbing things into conversation with either a normal voice or shouting it out.

"So," he drew out his question slightly, although deadly serious about it. "Why are there seven?"

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" The sudden question made the entire group, bar Jenny and the Doctor, jump and spin to see the dreadful sight they'd all feared catching up to them. Proper Dave's suit, skeleton still ensconced in it, standing in the background. Still a reasonable distance away from them, but all the same, far too close for comfort.

"Run!" was shouted, and the entire group took off in unison, running for the doors on the far side of the room. Behind them, they could hear the dreadful, gut-wrenching repeat of Proper Dave's last words continually pursuing them.

The door lead to another hallway that ended in a pair of double-doors. The group of six burst through those and back into sunlight. It was a corridor connecting the building they'd been in with another, and they all ran along it. Until the Doctor stopped in the middle.

"Jenny, Professor, go on ahead and find a safe spot."

"It's a carnivorous swarm in a suit," River exclaimed. "You can't reason with it!"

"Dad, she's right," Jenny's mouth twisted a bit, like she'd bitten something sour when she had to agree with that blasted woman. "Come on, we all need to stick together!"

"It's using Proper Dave's neural relay. In a very basic sense, I'll admit, but it's using it. That means there's a chance that I can teach them to communicate." The Doctor stood his ground, despite the pleading looks from his daughter. "Five minutes, that's all I need." I have to try, Little Star, you know that. And better me than you.

Fine. But you'd better not get yourself killed, you hear me Dad? Jenny glowered for the risky chance her dad was grabbing at, but he was, tactically, the better choice. More experience, more knowledge...the only thing she had over him was being faster and more physically flexible, and that really wouldn't help that much. Not for talking to them, anyway. She snorted at River's orders to Other Dave - yeah, the woman knew Dad all right. Pull him out when he was too stupid to live, indeed. Good luck, Other Dave.

Loud and clear. Now go on, keep the rest of them safe. He smiled confidently at his daughter, proud that she was taking over herding the group to safety. Then he turned to face the swarm in a suit, ready to pull off the toughest negotiation of his lives. His daughter's lives depended on it as well as his own...and his hopes of somehow saving Donna.