CH 21
The Doctor helped River to their bedroom with minimal difficulty before going to get the fetal monitor, leaving her for a moment. She was afraid she was dreaming, everything was suddenly alright again… The room was rather dark, and a few shadows were cast around the room, quickly but carefully she pushed out of bed, turning on all the lights in the room, avoiding the shadows and leaning against various objects in order to keep from falling over.
He came back in the room and instantly set down the equipment. "River? What are you doing?" He moved closer to her incase she were to fall.
She jumped, a bit startled by his voice, "I-It was too dark."
"Oh..." He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "River, you know you're safe now. I won't let the shadows take you."
She did her best to smile, trying to hide how scared she really was. "I know, I know. I'm alright."
"Why don't you get rest? We can leave the lights on if you want." He suggested. He didn't mind sleeping with them on if it made her feel safer.
She nodded, "Do you want to put the monitors on me first?" She asked, which was responded to with a nod.
"Sit." He went to pick up the monitors. He wrapped the elastic around her waist with the monitor attached to it. "It should keep track of the heart rates and such." She sighed, pressing her forehead to his shoulder.
"Do you think something is going to happen to the baby?" She asked.
"... I don't know. It's hard to say... but I think we have a fighting chance." He cupped her face in his hands. "Hey, it's gonna be okay."
"Doctor...I don't know if I can do it again. I don't know if I can handle having another miscarriage..." She looked away from him, her gaze fixed on the ground.
"River..." He didn't know what to do . He couldn't promise her that wouldn't happen, no one could assure that. He pulled her in close to him. "The risk of that happening gets smaller and smaller the longer you carry our child. In a few weeks, that won't even be a possibility. I can't promise you nothing will happen... but I can promise I'll do everything it my power to make sure it doesn't."
She clung to him, burying her face into his chest, "I'm so sorry." She whispered, "I shouldn't be putting pressure on you like this. Especially not after everything you've done for me." She had opened up to him, and was now starting to regret it, feeling as though she had told him too much, "If-If something happens, I'll cope..."
"No River, it's okay. You should have every right to be sad and upset. It's my job to take care of you when something traumatizing happens to you. You don't have to bundle it up." He held her tighter.
She shook her head, "I'm fine." She whispered, sealing her feelings off from him. "Really, it's fine. Let's just go to sleep." They settled in quickly. Neither of them had thought that they'd ever have the chance to cuddle up together again, which made all the more special.
"River. You know I'm here for you? What ever you need. I'm here."
She forced a smile, "Yes, I know..." She whispered, still clutching onto him as if she were afraid to let go.
"Do you want me to keep the lights on?"
"Are they bothering you?" She asked quietly, hoping that they weren't so she could keep all of them on. The room was really bright, but she didn't really care.
"No. Not at all." He pulled her closer wanting her to feel as safe as possible.
"Then I'd like to keep them on." She nuzzled into him, closing her eyes after another few minutes.
"Mummy?" Freya tugged on River's arm in the morning. "Mummy, wake up."
River groaned quietly, rolling over on her side away from Freya, not completely aware that it was her daughter trying to wake her up.
"Mummy, please!" Freya made her voice louder as she climbed up onto the bed. She tugged at River's arm. "Mummy wake up!" Her voice wasn't excited and happy like it normally was.
"What? What is it?" River asked sleepily, still exhausted from the events of the day before. Her eyes were still closed as she responded to whoever was pulling on her arm.
"Mummy, please! It's Mia!" She said urgently, close to breaking into tears.
The frantic tone in what River finally realized was her daughter's voice finally registered in her mind. "What's wrong?" She asked, this time fully waking up, already pushing back the covers.
"M-Mia... She's gone. Mummy, she's not there!" Freya sobbed. "I can't find her anywhere!"
"What?" She practically fell out of bed, adrenaline being the only thing keeping her from collapsing as she ran down the hallway to the girls room, "Amelia?" She called, running to her bed and pulling back the covers. There was nothing there.
Freya hugged River's leg. "Mummy..." She said between ragged breaths. "Where's Mia?" River collapsed onto the bed, ignoring the little girl at her feet as she screamed for the Doctor.
There was a surprised yelp and a lot of scrambling noises before he came running down the hall, all arms and legs, wielding his sonic. "Wha- is everything alright?!" He looked around the room, his stomach twisting. "...Where's Amelia?"
"I don't know, s-she's not here." River whispered, trying to hold herself together, though it wasn't working very well. The Doctor picked up Freya whose cheeks were stained with tears. With a spare hand, he scanned the bed.
" River… it's-it's them. It's the Silence." She shook her head, not wanting to hear what he was about to say as she clutched onto the sheets.
"No, no, no!" He ran a hand through his hair as anger and panic filled him. He probably would've kicked something if he hadn't been holding his daughter.
River continued shaking her head, jumping off the bed, running back to her room to get her blaster, then to the console room. She tried to think of places where her daughter might have been taken, frantically typing in bits and pieces of coordinates she only partially remembered. Tears slid down her cheeks and the fetal monitor she was still wearing began beeping wildly, but she barely even noticed.
The Doctor didn't realize his wife had gone from the room until the TARDIS lurched into motion. He went fast to the control room, doing his best to comfort Freya. "River?" She didn't hear him. He put a hand on her shoulder. "River!"
She shook him off of her, her mind only on finding Amelia. As she ran towards the doors. She had no idea what lay on the other side, already forgetting what coordinates she had but into the TARDIS. All that mattered to her that she had her blaster in hand, ready to shoot anyone that got in the way of her finding her daughter.
"River!" He couldn't leave Freya alone, not when she was at risk of being taken, too. "River, wait!" He followed her out the doors, holding Freya tight to his side. Any one who tried to take her would have to wrench her from his cold dead fingers. The monitor was still beeping wildly, the beeps becoming louder and more frantic.
She should have been trying to stay calm, but she was no where near calm, she could barely see where she was going as she ran out the doors, tears blurring her vision. It seemed to be an abandoned warehouse of some sort. They must've been far away from any cities or people because there were no sounds of cars or anything outside. The place was very dark and scuttling of small rodents echoed through the place. "Amelia!" River shouted, running further into the empty room, the sound of both her voice and the monitor she was wearing echoed off the walls. "Amelia!"
Very distant whimpers became audible, turning into crying as River ran further into the place. The Doctor tried to keep up, but she was much faster than him. He couldn't let her go so far from the TARDIS when the baby was in distress. She needed medicine, not to be running around a warehouse.
"Amelia!" River shouted, hearing the whimpers and running towards the source of them. "Amelia! It's alright, my love. Mummy's here, Mummy will save you!" She was shaking as she ran further away from the TARDIS, her still weak body under an immense amount of strain.
"Mum- Ahh!" Amelia screamed at the top of her lungs. "MUMMY!" She cried. He cries started to become distant again, like someone was moving her further away.
"NO! Amelia!" River screamed, pushing herself and trying to run faster. "Don't touch her! Don't hurt her! Please! She's just a child!" From around the corner, the blue light of electricity crackled. A doorway collapsed and from behind the rubble was a laugh. An evil and cold laugh of a woman. River screamed in fury and frustration, collapsing onto the ground, shaking and sobbing, the monitor wrapped around her waist almost beeping a flat line.
"River!" The Doctor's voice was still far behind her. He was running as fast as his legs would take him to get to his wife, but time was ticking. It was ticking the minute they left the TARDIS and it was ticking now, he had to get her back there. "River!" He breathed seeing her collapsed form. "No!"
She couldn't breathe, the sound of that horrible, horrible laughter ringing in her ears. "Amelia!" She used her last few breaths of consciousness to scream for her daughter, though it was pointless by now, she was gone again.
Freya had started sobbing again. Not only because for her sister, but because she didn't know why her mother had stopped moving. "River, River! Oh no no no no! River!" The Doctor set Freya down and fell to his knees in front of her. "River, wake up!" She didn't hear or respond to him, completely unconscious on the warehouse floor. "Freya, do you remember the special button on daddy's screw driver?" She nodded. "I want you to use it to summon the TARDIS." He had no idea how far they had run, but he knew there was no way he would be able to carry River back there in time. He handed Freya the sonic and moved closer to River, turning her so she was lying on her back. Her hands and knees were all scraped up and there was a large, bleeding gash running from her forehead to her temple where she had hit her head when she collapsed.
Everything was a big blur when the TARDIS materialized around them. The Doctor was dragging River's limp body to the sick bay and Freya was watching, terrified and sobbing. She retrieved the needles and equipment that the Doctor had asked her to get off the shelf with shaking hands. He wasn't much calmer than Freya was. Neither of them stopped crying for hours. Even when they finally got River stabilized, they sat crying. And they waited. They waited and waited, sitting on the couch in each other's arms, for River to wake up.
Several hours after she had been stabilized, River started to wake again, moaning in discomfort and shifting slightly. Her eyes opened slowly, and she looked up at the ceiling, trying to reorient herself. The Doctor had fallen asleep, but Freya looked up at the woman in the bed. She climbed off the couch and reached her little hand up to River's. "Mummy?" River felt Freya's hand take hers, and she turned her head, her gaze falling onto the little girls.
She didn't respond, but squeezed her hand lightly. Freya smiled for the first time that day. "Daddy said you'd be really really tired when you woke up. He said you might go right back to sleep." She managed to get up onto the side of the bed. "Please don't go back to sleep."
River tried to smile, but didn't have enough energy. "Freya..." She breathed, still holding onto her little hand. "L...Lay...down...w-with Mummy..." She was exhausted just from talking since it took so much effort.
Freya knew enough to be very gentle. She carefully placed her self by River's side, curling up into her side. "Mummy? When will Mia come back?" Hearing that seemed to trigger something inside of her, she immediately became tense, her breathing becoming heavier.
"Amelia..." Her eyes darted around the room and she tried to sit up, "Amelia...!" She nearly fell off the bed.
"Mummy!" Freya exclaimed. The noise woke the Doctor up.
"Wha- huh..? River!" He got to his feet. "River you have to stay in bed."
She stared at him, motionless for a moment, tears filling her eyes, "Doctor...my baby...Amelia..." She tried to get out of bed again, not wanting to lay around while he daughter was out somewhere in the universe alone and afraid.
"River." He held her shoulders firmly. "The medicine I gave you is making you very weak. You couldn't even make it to the console room. Please, I need you to stay in bed."
"Please, Doctor..." She clutched onto his shirt, though her grip was very weak. "Amelia... I-I don't want her to end up l-like me. Please...save her..." She begged, tears running down her cheeks, "Th-They're going t-to hurt her..."
"I won't let them." He pulled her in close. "They are not going to hurt her River. I've been running a scan for her for the past hour. There's nothing yet, but there will be soon. I promise." She cried harder when he held her.
She could only think of her poor little girl, in the same situation that she had been in all those years ago. She didn't want Amelia to have nightmares every night, she did want Amelia to have the same emotional problems that she did. She had promised to protect her girls and now she had let one of them down, and probably traumatized the other with the what had happened.
He sat there holding her for what felt like hours. He soothed his hand down her back. "River, I know how much you want to get up and find right now, but you have to promise to stay in bed. It's not just our baby's life that's on the line, it's yours too."
"I-Is the baby okay?" She asked, her voice still shaking. She ignored his last request, not wanting to promise him anything.
"For now, but it's you I'm more concerned about. I gave you some more medication, the same one as before, but the amount I had to administer it dangerous for you. It's draining your energy too quickly. I'm trying to replenish it." He pointed to the IV bag she was hooked up to. "But it's still draining rather fast."
"I don't care..." She whispered, "If it keeps the baby alive, then that's all that matters. And if I help, then we could find Amelia faster."
"River, it's straining your life force! If you take that IV out, you'll be dead in minutes." Before either of them could say anything more, Freya tapped on River's leg.
"What baby?" River bit her lip, glancing up at the Doctor, not knowing if she should tell Freya the truth. "What baby?" The girl asked again after a few moments of silence.
"Do you think we should tell her?" Asked the Doctor in a low voice.
"Well I don't know what else to tell her..." She whispered, too tired to think of a lie to tell Freya.
"I think maybe we should..." He looked back at Freya who was getting rather impatient.
River hesitated before turning to her daughter, "Freya, Mummy and Daddy have something to tell you..."
She put her full attention on her mother. She was on her toes to know what it was. "What?"
"Well, sweetie...Mummy's going to have another baby..."
Her eyes grew wide with excitement, momentarily forgetting that her twin was missing. "Like... 'nother sister?"
River nodded, coming very close to a smile, "Or a little brother."
"W-where?" She looked around the room as if it would appear there to play with her.
She laughed this time, just for a moment, "In my belly, love. The baby needs some time in there to grow and get big and strong so they can come out and play with you."
Freya looked at River's stomach in wonder before placing her hand there. "How long?"
"Eight months." She brushed back the curls on Freya's forehead, "Do you think you can wait that long?"
"Not without Mia to keep me company." She pouted. "Is that why you fell down earlier?"
She nodded slowly, "Yes, sweetie, that's why. The baby is going to make me very very tired for a while."
"Bad baby." She glared at River's abdomen and shook a finger at it. "No making mummy tired. She has to help find Mia."
"The baby doesn't mean to make me tired. And I'm perfectly capable of helping find Amelia whether I'm tired or not." River shot a glare of her own up at the Doctor.
"River..." He begged again. "You can help plenty from where you are. Please. Stay in bed."
"Doctor...I can't just sit here and wait for something to happen. I have to find her. I'm not doing any good just sitting here!"
He knew he couldn't keep her in the bed even if he tied her down. It would be like trying to convince her to not pick a locked door or not follow him into a dark corridor. She'd just go ahead and do it anyway. At least this way he would be able to keep an eye on her. "Fine, fine." He gave in. "But you're not walking." He popped up a brought a wheel chair over. "You have to use this."
"Alright, fine." She agreed, already moving out of bed, eager to be up and looking for Amelia. She had quite a bit of difficulty just sitting herself up straight, never mind getting out of bed. He let her lean on his arms, supporting her fully.
When she was settled in the chair, Freya tapped River. "Can I sit in your lap?"
She held open her arms, "Of course, darling. Come here." Freya climbed up into River's lap and settled in her arms. She didn't full understand everything that had happened that day but she understood that her sister was taken by bad people. That her parents were the most frightened she'd ever seen them and the baby in her mum's tummy was making her ill enough that she couldn't walk. She was comforted by River's warmth and searched for any more reassurance she could get.
River knew that Freya was frightened by everything. She held her a bit tighter than normal, kissing her head, "It's alright, my love. Everything will be alright." She rubbed Freya's back soothingly, tracing Gallifreyan words lightly with her fingers.
"I miss Mia..." She told her as the Doctor started moving them to the console room.
River sighed, holding her a bit closer, "I know. I miss her too, but we're going to bet her back. I promise."
"When?" She asked, hoping it wasn't as long as it would take for the baby to get there.
"I don't know. Soon..." She glanced up at the Doctor, trying to keep the distress out of her eyes. He gave her a kiss on the top of her head, hoping it would be at least a little reassuring.
They reached the console room and he parked the chair right next to him to she could see what he was doing. He pulled the scanner over to see if it had found their daughter yet. River was shaking as he pulled over the scanner, praying that Amelia had been found.
"There!" He suddenly said after a moment of tense silence. "She's been taken to asteroid belt of the Proestea solor system!"
"What are the coordinates?" She demand, typing things in.
"Z37-R17-HE07" He said quickly. He pulled as much information of the place that he could. She quickly typed the coordinates in before going about pulling levers, landing the TARDIS. "Wait, wait!" He said before she could run out the door like last time. "River, it looks like they pulled out all the stops for this. There's force fields a-and a huge amount of security a-and a lot of guns! You can't just run out there, there's no telling what could happen to you!"
She gently let Freya off her lap, "Doctor, my daughter is out there and I'm not going to let her suffer alone any longer." She pushed herself out of the chair, "I don't care what dangers are out there I'm going to- Ah!" She doubled over clutching her stomach.
"River!" He ran over to her. "River, oh god, River!" He held her and helped her lie down on the floor. He didn't care that they were in the middle on the console room.
"Doctor...What's happening?" She asked, biting back another cry of pain. He let her squeeze his hand while he did a quick scan with his sonic. His eyes went wide as he read the scan and he dropped the screwdriver, putting all of his attention on her.
"River, I need you to stay calm. Everything's going to be okay..."
"Doctor..." She hissed, still clutching onto his hand, as she disregarded his words, complete terror in her eyes, "Tell me what is going on."
"The baby i-it's..." He could barley get the words out, though the faint glow from River's torso gave a hint. "I-it's trying to regenerate."