This chapter was accidentally skipped during the first upload due to a mix up with the labeling of the files. This is the real chapter thirteen.

Chapter Thirteen

River woke to the feeling of warmth being pushed against her side. It was a sort of damp warmth that at first felt good, but it then made her anxious. What was warm and damp that could be beside her on the TARDIS like this? Was she bleeding? Was it The Doctor? Was he bleeding?

As she slowly came to, she realized it was Renee, and she was crying.

The room was dim, but a light came from under the door and her eyes were adjusted to the darkness. Renee was pressed into her neck, and she trembled violently. The last time River remembered seeing anyone shake to this extent was when she and The Doctor had gotten lost on the Oodsphere and become severely hypothermic.

She propped herself up on one elbow and touched the girl's head. "Shh... Quiet now. Everything's alright. What happened?"

It took a while, but River eventually got Renee to calm a bit and asked again, more softly than before. "What happened?"

"Fell asleep," she choked.

River remembered the girl's question last night, if she was scared to sleep because of nightmares. She'd given her a half-honest answer, thinking Renee was worried unecessarily for her mother.

She'd been asking as a means of expressing vulnerability without actually saying it. River should have recognised this, but she hadn't.

River held the trembling the girl and stroked her hair like she was a child. Renee cuddled into her and seemed to relax a tiny bit.

"What did you dream of?" she asked Renee softly.

Renee shuddered in response. River held her closer and was about to comfort her again, saying she didn't have to answer yet, but Renee said something first. "I forgot. Now I- I can- remember…"

"I know... " she soothed. "Me too."

"Did you dream?"

"Yes." But she was used to it. She could seperate her terrified, tiny frame from her current self. Also, she supposed, she'd been through more than her daughter since her experience with The Silence. Her daughter's normal didn't as drastically contrast with that of her dreamland.

"You said you weren't scared," Renee accused.

Even though she knew it would be worse for her daughter, she had to admit that facing Kovarian would always frighten her. It felt like an animal instinct. She would flinch from Kovarian as quickly as she would pull her hand from a fire. Only incredible and draining willpower could hold the reaction off, and it would kill her if put off long enough. "I lied."

"But you're calm. You're not shaking. You're okay."

"I'm not thinking about it."

Images were flashing by beneath her eyelids with every blink, but as soon as her eyes were open, they were gone again, and River pushed them into the deep recesses of her mind.

The two stayed silent for a while. River didn't know how long the silence stretched. She didn't want to break it, but she wasn't comfortable with it. She was thinking of things to say when it was broken for her. Not by Renee but by a previously unnoticed third party. The door opened with a slight creek.

A quiet knock on the trim around the door sounded like thunder. A petite sillouette appeared in the light of the doorway, and Clara whispered. "Can I come in?"

River looked to Renee. She had been the one upset. She should be the one consulted.

Renee sat up and wiped her face. "Yeah. Come in." Her voice was thick and shaky.

Clara shut the door nearly completely behind her, leaving only a thin crack of light coming from three sides. She stood in front of the wood, holding her bandaged wrist to her chest, her skin ghastly in the dim light.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Are you okay?" Renee countered. "You look like a raccoon. Have you slept?"

Clara rubbed her wrist again and pushed some hair behind her ear. The response didn't sit well.

"What's wrong?" River asked. She was clearly nervous about something.

"Nothing," Clara said quickly, her eyes widening. "I heard someone crying. I wanted to make sure you guys were okay."

"We're fine," Renee said.

Clara brushed a hand across her brow, lingering her fist over her eye a moment before continuing. "If you're both alright then, I suppose I'll just head to bed, um, I mean back to bed. I mean, yeah. Back to sleep." The words were so rushed that the last part of the sentence began to slur. Clara turned her face to the floor. A few locks of hair covered her eyes. It was stringy with sweat.

River almost said something to her, but she decided Clara probably didn't want them to know what was bothering her. She looked back up, her eyes glassy now.

"If you need anything… I'm right next door."

"Of course," River said.

She hesitated again but turned and opened the door again.

Renee shifted again, forward this time. "Wait."

Clara turned her head.

"I'm actually… You did hear me. I had a nightmare."

Her face reddenned. "Oh, um…"

"Can you just stay here? It you don't mind of course. You don't have to… I'd just feel more comfortable. You know…"

Clara looked uncomfortable but didn't begin to leave. River motioned to Renee's now empty bed. "We apparently have space since Renee came over here."

She awkwardly went to Renee's bed and sat down. "Are you sure you don't mind?"

"I'd feel better if you stayed," Renee insisted.

Clara looked to River. She tried to decide what to do. Renee hadn't seemed anything like she'd wanted Clara to know what was happening before she'd entered. Once Clara had spoken, though, Renee had completely changed attitude.

Clara's face had lines you wouldn't expect from someone her age. They weren't quite noticeable unless you looked for them or were purely shocked by the one imperfection on her otherwise doll-like face.

Her eyes were eerily inanimate. The almost amber brown color of her eyes and the doll-like pucker of her lips looked strange amongst the shining of sweat on her cheeks and her skin's pallor. It reminded River of herself, a particular time actually.

She'd been staying in the TARDIS again, not unusual, but it was the first time she and The Doctor had fallen asleep together. The strangeness of the situation was amusing now, but then it was just foreign and frightening.

It wasn't like she'd never slept with anyone. Maybe if she'd been a less... psychopathic young adult the notion would be a little more unusual, but as she was Mels and then River, she did end up getting around a bit.

The problem lied in the fact that they weren't doing that. Of all the things, The Doctor wanted to sleep, physically lay his head down, close his eyes, and become unconscious with another sentient being, one capable of issuing his death no less.

And she had laid there for hours, trying to do as he said, to relax. To just go to sleep.

She had ended up in the bathroom, the door locked and the light switched on, staring at her reflection.

The light hurt her eyes, so used to the darkness of the bedroom after having laid there for hours on end. In the mirror, they looked terrified and sad. Her face was pale. Her jaw dangled from her face, revealing her top teeth.

Clara was waiting for an answer, and River still didn't have one. Of all the things, she would have loved to be able to go and hide in that time, but she'd learned it wasn't worth it.

He'd knocked on the door softly, making her jump.

"River? Are you okay?"

She'd calmed her racing hearts before saying, "yes, Sweetie. Just needed some water."

The doorknob had jiggled, followed by something under The Doctor's breath, something young-sounding, something that would have only been a word of frustration to a six year old. She did miss him...

He'd sonicked the door, and she'd decided just to let him find her leaning against the counter as she was. She'd seen him enter in the mirror. They'd met eyes that way, and his face fell.

"You had a nightmare, didn't you?"

Even the softness of his voice calmed her a little. No, it didn't change the fear that was burning through her but his words felt right. "No."

"You haven't slept, because you don't want to," he guessed next, sounding as if this was the only other option.

Remembering the comfort his presence had given, River gave Clara a simple, "I'm fine with it. I've just regenerated! I could sleep on the console if I felt the need." River smiled at the reference only The Doctor would ever understand.

Renee laughed.

River decided to question her later.

"Well, um... Goodnight then," Clara said. She didn't lie down, but River did. She wasn't in the mood for nightmares, but she was also exhausted.

Renee was still sitting up next to her when River fell asleep.

…

"River! River, wake up! River! River, wake up! Wake up!"

She heard the voice but found it impossible to move or even remember to whom it belonged. It was like an echo... far away but clear.

"River! River, we have to go! We can't stay here! Wake up!" the voice continued. She noticed that her body was rocking, but she was laying down. Someone was shaking her. Someone was trying to wake her up. The Doctor was trying to wake her...

"River!' he demanded, his voice suddenly much louder. "River!"

She opened her eyes a little. She could see his shadow on the wall in front of her, and it's movement confused her drowsy mind. "Mmm?"

"We have to move, now!"

She didn't want to move though. She could barely keep her eyes open.

"Fine," he said, and she felt him lift her. She cuddled into his chest and felt him running, somewhere. She didn't really care where in the moment.

She was almost completely unconscious again when the new voice entered. "River!"

Amy?