Disclaimer: These disclaimers are getting to tedious to write, but nevertheless I don't own anything but the writing and all rights to the BBC, no infringement intended, blah blah.

Here's a song from 'bleach-otaku!' I've got some great suggestions from you guys coming up so get superdy-super excited for those to come to life, I guess. Thank you so much for all the reviews and suggestions, your kind words brighten my summer days! I hope you continue to read and enjoy, and reviews are always appreciated.

Face Down-Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Do you feel like a man
When you push her around?
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?
Well, I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end
As your lies crumble down, a new life she has found.

A pebble in the water makes a ripple effect,
Every action in this world will bear a consequence.
If you wade around forever you will surely drown:
I see what's going down.

"Can't you understand?" he cried, his eyes frantically searching her face for some kind of acknowledgment. "Be clever, River. This isn't a toy, give it here."

Her eyes were unreasonably angry, rage and fury setting fire in the dark furnace of her pupils. She stood her ground, feet planted shoulder's-width apart and hands placed calmly at her sides. Chin held high, River was not going to lose the battle, no matter the slight frightened flutter of her chest.

"Give me the controls." It was a command, an order issued by her fine-tuned soldier.

She never broke her stare, never lifted a finger to her holster. She stayed exactly where she was, a cool demeanor hiding the fire blazing underneath.

"I told you to give me the controls!" The Doctor's voice had escalated now and River could tell he was closing in on fury. She knew how he could get when emotional, but she didn't sway her position. River Song would not take orders from anyone.

"No."

Her response stunned him into silence and he had to take a large gulp of air before continuing, incredulous. "What?"

"Come now, Doctor. I said 'no.' "

His figure swayed a bit, unsure if it wanted to take a step towards or away from River. Her icy glare was chilling but the Doctor was unrelenting. He was determined to fight this war and to win, though River's one-woman army was uncompromising and incorrigible.

They stayed like that for a while, staring into each other's eyes, until the Doctor stepped forwards and held out his hand, almost in a blasé fashion.

"Give it to me, River." he sighed, motioning with his outstretched hand towards the worn slab in hers. It was a sacred object that belonged to the natives of the planet, though a legion of Cybermen had stormed onto the planet and realized its potential to fit perfectly within their machine. The Cybermen were hours away from activating their new factory until the Doctor had arrived to intervene. Now River and the Doctor were left with a room full of dead robots and a few scattered humans, the control slab in River's hands. "Don't make it hard for yourself."

"Don't patronize me, Doctor." Her determination was steely and resolute, unwavering.

The Doctor took this moment to look around the battlefield the dance hall had become. Dead bodies of various Cybermen littered the ground and blood stained both of their clothing, and he noticed a small bit of her hair was blackened from an outlying shot that had singed her golden tips. She stood almost heroic in the midst of it all, he thought, though a hero she was not.

He pushed his hand a little more out and River reacted by lifting the controls high above her head, her resolve still adamant and unmoving.

"We both know you're not going to set it off, River, and there's no way to disarm it. What purpose does it have to you? Give it to me, I have to destroy it. No one should have their hands on this again."

She laughed, a short, deep laugh that echoed throughout the hall. "No, you're right, Doctor. I'm not going to set it off."

His shoulders sagged a bit in what seemed like relief, as if he hadn't quite believed that to be true until now.

"I'm not going to set it off," she repeated. "But this belongs to someone else and is not yours to keep."

He stared at her with an expression both pained and questioning, unknowing of where River was heading with the turn in the conversation. He hated not knowing.

"And why is that?"

She smiled a smile full of conceit, then dialed in coordinates on her wrist before vanishing.

He was frozen to the bone, unable to make any decision regarding movement. He stared at the spot where she had been moments before, air engulfing the space that had once held the battered and bruised River.

He clenched his fists at his sides, pure anger rippling through him. She thought she could deny him and then just leave him whenever she damn well pleased, but she was wrong. The Doctor was angry, now. He was angry that he hadn't been able to save the human participants in the dance hall and angry that River could outsmart him so easily and angry that she would leave him to clean up what was partially her mess. The Doctor was angry.

So when she shocked him by materializing in front of him just moments after her departure, he took hold of her wrist and clasped it tightly. In a blaze of white light, River had gone then come back as quickly as she'd left, though now she held no panel in her other hand.

He forced her down to the ground and stood over her, hand on wrist, still full of choler and irritability. She looked up at him then with such hatred he felt his eyes soften in remorse, though his grip remained unchanged.

"Let go of me, Doctor." Her voice was cool but she was angry now, too, he could feel it in the pulse beneath his fingertips.

"Where's the slab?" She glared back at him, silent. "River, you will tell me where it is!"

She formed her hand into a fist and shook her wrist to free his grasp but he held tight, unyielding.

"I gave the slab back to the original owners."

His mouth dropped open in disbelief. "But they don't know how to handle it-they could set it off any minute! River, you've just sent an entire planet to its destruction!"

"No, I disabled the electric currents that run through it, so it's no harm to anyone."

His grip relented the smallest bit but he did not let go. "That's impossible, River. How did you do that?"

"I hot-wired the metal links and fried them. Went to a lava planet and used the gaseous exterior to help me-all it took was a little heat."

"But that's brilliant." The Doctor had completely released her hand now and was staring down at her in wonder. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

She stood up and dusted herself off. "Because you wouldn't have listened, Doctor, because you don't understand the religious significance it has to these people. That's something you can't understand." She paused, looking him squarely in the eye. "Some people need faith, Doctor, even if its a blind faith. Technology and danger aren't important to them, for what use to them is technology if there's no belief it will change anything?"

He gazed back at her, now slightly sheepish and retreating into himself. River had shown him himself yet again, and, as usual, the Doctor felt ashamed. He had to admit she was right, sometimes.

He watched her examine her wrist and felt a wave of regret wash over him. "I'm s-sorry," he stammered.

"For grabbing me or not trusting me?" Her gaze narrowed him down to make him feel like a small child, her issued splendor radiating off her bruised figure.

"Both."

She moved herself closer to him so she stood directly in front of him, her hand resting habitually on her gun.

"If you dare touch me again, I swear, Doctor. I swear I will never come back."

Her threat echoed in every bone of his body, his once furious resolve now melted into an apology.

"And if you don't trust me," she said, her voice now wavering slightly to match the tears beginning in her eyes. "Then how are we ever going to work?"

He wrapped his arms around her in a woeful embrace, the pair both fighting back tears. She sighed into him but did not return the hug, deciding instead to leave her hands by her side. He held on to her with a woebegone need, unable to answer the question she had posed.

"I'm trying to, River, I'm trying."

She gasped back tears and let him hold her, her chest tightening with pain. He was so young and had so far to go, but River wasn't sure how much more she could take. His mistrust was so agonizingly painful and it burned her inside as she felt him slip through her fingers. She was losing him slowly and surely, and there was nothing she could do about it. The worst part was that she had no one to tell, because the only person she'd ever disclosed herself to was the one causing her misfortune-the Doctor was the only person she trusted and he was gradually disappearing into oblivion.

She felt her arms reach up to hug him back, water stinging her eyes as she held on for dear life.