I apologize for disappearing for a while, but it was for the best. I needed a bit of a break and I got wrapped up in other things. But today I had several hours to kill, so I sat down and finally finished this chapter.

Lots of arguing this chapter, obviously, getting into the character dynamics a bit more now that River has joined the crew, and oh boy, more spoilers! I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and I eagerly await your thoughts, comments and or critiques.

The Doctor and River stood with their books open, trying to get an idea of where the other was in each others timelines. It surprised him to find that they were mostly matched up. After he had disappeared, she had spent most of her time doing archeological dealings and looking for him. As far as he could gather (which really wasn't much since she loved to keep things from him) this was the first time she had seen him since his "death".

This was a tremendous relief to him. He had at first been concerned that she didn't know who James was. If she had been from his future and didn't already know what was going on, he would have had to take great care not to cause any paradoxes, but she was, for the most part, exactly where he had left her, and that gave him some freedom in what he could share with her.

Having ascertained all that he could from her, he closed his book and slipped it back into the inside pocket of his jacket. Before he got the chance to say anything, River had already begun speaking.

"Well, now that we're all caught up, let's get down to what your past self is doing here," she said, looking between James and the Doctor.

James frowned, concerned as well that she didn't already know. His eyes widened in alarm when the Doctor confidently proclaimed, "Oh, that's not past me. That's my meta-crisis hand."

He could hardly believe that the Doctor had just told her that. If she didn't already know, and she was from the future, the repercussions of that could be very, very bad, but the Doctor didn't seem too concerned. He just smiled at her, waiting for the information to sink in.

It didn't take long. There was no need to explain it to her. Her smile disappeared and she suddenly looked very, very alarmed. "What?"

The Doctor continued as lightly as before, "Instantaneous biologica-"

"I know what it means, but what is he doing here?" she asked, her voice sounding constricted. "He should be in the other universe."

James watched her, wondering what on earth he had done to deserve such blatant fear and wariness from her and how she had known what the Doctor was talking about. Not a lot of people knew what an instantaneous biological meta-crisis was. She appeared to not only know what it meant, but also the implications and circumstances.

"Well, it's a bit of a long story..." the Doctor said, rubbing the back of his neck.

She reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him suddenly towards the hall James and the Doctor had just come from. "Explain it."

James, Amy and Rory watched them leave with bewildered expressions.

"What was that about?" Amy asked.

James frowned deeply and shrugged a shoulder. "I don't know," he said, then looked at Amy and Rory curiously. "Do you either of you know why she has a gun?"

"She always has a gun," Rory said.

"What would she need a gun for? She's an archeologist."

Amy and Rory stared at him for a moment, glanced at each other and then looked back at him again. "She just recently became an archeologist," Amy said.

"What was she before that?"

Amy pursed her lips indecisively. "A lot of things."

"Such as?" James asked. "How much do you two know about her?"

"Some, but I don't think she tells us everything," Rory replied, his voice inexplicably solemn.

"I never told my parents everything," Amy put in.

Rory shrugged in agreement.

James stared at them, wondering if he had heard that last part correctly. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I never told my parents-"

"I heard that bit," James cut in, holding up a hand to stop her. "Why would that matter?"

"Don't you know?" Amy asked.

"Obviously not," James said impatiently. "Care to share?"

"Well, she's our daughter," Rory replied almost uncomfortably.

James stared at him, his brow furrowing immediately at that. "The one who got kidnapped?"

"Right," Rory said with a nod, a flash of anger crossing his usually docile features.

"Doctor River Song is your daughter?"

"Well, we named her Melody Pond, but she goes by River," Amy said.

"How'd you find her?" James asked.

"It's a bit of a long story," Rory said.

James looked at him, turned around and plopped himself down on one of the chairs, crossing a leg over the other and placing his hands on his knee, fingers laced. "I'm all ears."

The Doctor explained the situation with Mr. Boots and James as quickly as he could manage, which really wasn't very quickly on usual terms, considering the fact that he kept straying from the story to tell other stories that were only slightly connected and then go off on rants about the walls of the universes, how Mr. Boots might have opened them to get through to James' universe, and cashews. With a lot of prodding and interruptions on River's part, he finally finished his story to her, watching her face as she processed the information with a very serious expression. He wondered what was going on behind that mess of curly hair. Why did she seem concerned?

"Take him back. Right now," River said, her voice firm and authoritative.

The Doctor eyes squinted as her scrutinized her. "Why? What are you so nervous about?"

She just stared at him with the same severity as before. She absolutely meant it. She wanted him gone. But why? What had alarmed her about him so? The Doctor himself had been cautious of him, yes, but not outright alarmed by him. From the look in her eyes, he could swear that she thought he was strapped with explosives. "I can't tell you," she replied at last.

He scowled at that. "Why?" he pressed.

"Because I can't," she answered.

His jaw tightened in frustration and he scratched his head, pinching his eyes shut as he thought of how to respond. She wasn't going to tell him why. That was obvious enough. She had never led him astray before, but something was holding him back from completely trusting in her. "I can't," the Doctor stated.

"Why?"

"Several reasons," the Doctor said. "But mostly because I refuse."

She gaped at that. "You refuse?"

"Yes, I refuse."

"Doctor, this is serious. He's dangerous."

His anger seemed to inexplicably flare at that and he stared her down with a look he saved only for those that opposed him. "He's staying."

"Why?"

"Spoilers," he mocked and then turned to head back up to the main area. When his back was turned to her, he winced at the unnecessary insult he had just given her. He wasn't even sure why he was being so rude to her. He had gotten defensive for some reason.

"Doctor," she said.

He stopped, but didn't turn around.

"You don't know, Doctor."

He shook his head. "He's different from when I left him."

"Doctor, please listen to me. He's dangerous. More than you know and to no fault of his own... there are stories, Doctor."

He turned at that, looking at her over his shoulder. "What stories?"

She frowned. "About the right hand of the Doctor."

He looked at her for a long moment and then shook his head. "It's probably just a metaphor," he said dismissively. It was a terrible lie.

She obviously didn't buy that, but she didn't argue with him, either. "Maybe, but at least look into it. And keep an eye on him. Please."

The Doctor nodded and he gestured for her to head on up. She did and he followed behind her, wincing at the uncomfortable tension that had formed. He didn't know why he had been so unkind to her and he regretted the unsavory remark he had said, but part of him felt like he was in the right to be mad, although he couldn't explain it.

When they joined Amy, Rory and James, Rory had apparently finished telling James about River. The Doctor froze at that... Rory had just told him all about River.

And James now held the same expression that River had not moments ago. His eyes were wide, his brow raised, and he looked absolutely stunned and a little horrified. His head turned to the Doctor, mouth opening and closing as he tried to form the word "What?".

The Doctor sighed. "This isn't one of my best days," he said in dismay.

"You made a Time Lord?" James huffed.

River looked at Amy and Rory. "You told him?"

"He asked!" Amy said defensively.

"Were we not supposed to?" Rory asked.

"Not really," the Doctor said, then returned his attention to James. "It's really not that big of a deal."

"It is that big a deal!" James said, standing. "It's a very big deal. It's a monumental deal. You can't just- just- make Time Lords willy-nilly!" His hands were busy flying around his head, proclaiming his outrage.

"I didn't plan it out! How was I supposed to know they were getting busy mid-flight?" the Doctor protested indignantly, pointing at the Ponds.

Rory cringed. "Can we not talk about our bedroom life, please?"

James looked at him like he was ready to pounce on him, too, but the Doctor held up his hands in a calming gesture.

"It wasn't intentional, no harm has come of it," he said reassuringly.

James' eyes darkened. "Not yet."

The Doctor almost cringed at that. All of this, most prominently where River Song had been conceived, was leading up to her death, which the Doctor felt creeping closer and closer every day. If she hadn't been a Time Lord, she might have gotten to live a little longer.

James must have felt it, because he glanced between the Doctor and River for a moment, then his face seemed to drain of anger. His eyes fell to the floor and he looked away.

Amy looked around at the now very sullen group and scowled at each of them. "Alright, I don't know what's going here, but I'm putting an end to it. Right now. No more arguing. I think we all need a bit of a rest."

Rory nodded in eager agreement, ready to jump at any excuse to get away from the tension of the Time Lord and his two half counterparts.

The Doctor nodded as well. "Amy's right. We should all get some rest. It's been a long day and we've got even more to do tomorrow."

Everyone seemed to agree. Amy and Rory were the first to head up the stairs and River followed behind them, sharing a little bit of what she had been up to as they headed down the hall.

James stayed behind, waiting for them to leave before he looked at the Doctor, who had retired to the swing below the top glass level of the TARDIS' control room. James walked down to him and sat down on the floor Indian-style. He stared at his hands as he wrung them for a few minutes, before at last taking a big breath and looking up at the Doctor. "I'm sorry."

The Doctor stopped the tinkering he had been doing to look at him in confusion. "For what?"

"I know what she was talking to you about and I know you defended me and I repay that by getting angry at you for something that wasn't even your fault. It wasn't my business and... and I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

The Doctor blinked at him, baffled. He had never been good at apologies that involved admitting he was wrong. In fact, he was terrible at it and here James was, saying it humbly and sincerely. For a long while he just stared at him, trying to decide how to respond. People didn't really apologize to him either, mostly because he was rarely wrong, so he wasn't sure what to say. Should he agree? Should he apologize for... something?

The best he came up with was to nod, which seemed to satisfy James, because he nodded back and then glanced up at what the Doctor was doing.

"You should meld that green wire with the shield circuit," he said. "It would give shielding an extra ten percent."

"No, that would fry it," the Doctor said.

"No, it wouldn't. Not if you did this," he said, standing and proceeding to twiddle with a few wires and circuits.

The Doctor watched him for a minute skeptically, but then his brow rose in surprise as it clicked what James was doing. He gawked as James pulled away from his work, which had been more than successful. It had increased it eleven percent.

"That was brilliant," the Doctor admonished.

James shrugged. "It's funny, really, what I never thought of as a full Time Lord, but what's so obvious to me now."

The Doctor nodded, squinted his eyes and then said, "You know, if we sacrificed two percent of the shielding to to flight module, we could even out her flight and landing a bit."

James looked at him curiously. "How would we do that? Wouldn't that overload it?"

"Not if we do it right. Here, look at this," the Doctor said, then reached up and pulled some wires out for James to see.

Neither of them ended up going to bed.

I don't know much about science-y phrases and words and terms and all that jazz, so I was forced to make that bit up as I went, which was a bit upsetting, but the only thing I could think to do. Plus, there's no telling how the TARDIS really works and what all makes it run and stuff. As far as I'm aware, we don't have TARDIS mechanics that I can consult for the information needed. So, sorry about that. Hope you enjoyed it despite that bit ;)