Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.
"Ow!" Back on The TARDIS, The Doctor suddenly yelped, hand flying to his mouth.
"Doctor?" Clara jumped up, running to his side. "Doctor, what's wrong?"
"Anthony.." He murmured. "Clara, I need you to step back and be quiet for a moment, I have to focus.."
Amy and River were both up and running before Anthony hit the ground, but there was no way they could have caught him. Their hearts broke as he screamed, feeling sick when they saw blood pooling around his mouth. Amy quickly swept him up into her arms.
"There, Little Man, Mummy's got you." She caught the bloodstained tooth that fell from his mouth as he cried. She turned to River. "He's knocked out a tooth and split his lip, but otherwise he seems fine."
"Good, that's.. Oh no" River took the still screaming Anthony from Amy as she noticed the tell-tale twinkles of gold around his mouth. "Stop, Little Prince. You'll need that for much more important things one day.."
"She's right, you know" The Doctor's voice echoed through Anthony and River's heads this time, letting them both know he was there in the only way he could be. "You don't want to waste that energy. I know it hurts now, but you have to be brave. Come on, Anthony, be a brave boy for your Mum and Rivvy and me, hey?"
"Brave boy.." Anthony whimpered, his cries beginning to fade along with the faint gold glow. "I brave boy." His speech was slightly slurred, he'd need to learn how to speak properly again with the new gap between his teeth.
"You are" River whispered, kissing his forehead. "Our brave boy."
"River?" Amy asked after a moment, a little confused as to what was going on. "He is okay, isn't he?"
"He will be, now" said River, handing the little boy back to Amy. "Once we get him home and cleaned up. Just give me a minute, okay?"
"Okay.."
River turned, her inner lioness roaring. She had failed to protect her cub this time, but she'd be damned if she left without making the one who had hurt him think twice about ever doing it again. In her head, she could still hear The Doctor whispering comfortingly to their son, letting her know he'd be okay while she did what she had to do.
Thomas had run up the ladder and gone down the slide at least five more times, apparently not caring less about the pain he had caused Anthony. Michael, Mary's younger son, was innocently playing on the swing set next to a dark-haired little girl about Anthony's age, a little girl whom River would have noticed looked very familiar, if her mind hadn't been otherwise occupied. Mary was chatting to another woman, either completely oblivious to what her son had done, or perhaps she just didn't care.
River seized Thomas by the ear when he came down the slide again. Not an unusual punishment in the current time period, and frankly, he deserved worse.
"Lemme go!" He whined.
"No! Look what you did!" River growled, pointing at Anthony's bloodied face. "Why did you push him?!"
"He was in my way" Thomas snorted. "I'm older. Oldest always goes first!"
"That is not a good enough reason!" River yelled, shaking him slightly.
"Ow!"
"There is never a good reason to push a child so much smaller than you!"
"Let go of my son!" Mary came marching over, finally realizing what was going on.
River hesitated, then reluctantly did so, not wanting to cause trouble for Amy. Still, this wasn't completely over.
"You need to teach your son how to behave."
"Excuse me?!" cried Mary indignantly.
"I think you heard me perfectly well" said River. "He pushed Anthony off the slide, all because he was too impatient to wait his turn!"
"Boys will be boys. They need to work out a pecking order somehow" said Mary, looking Anthony over. "Besides, it's just a cut." Amy would have snapped herself now, if River wasn't handling this so well herself.
"Just a cut?!" River growled. "Just a cut?! It could need stitches. And he's lost a tooth. He's only three, it'll be years before that grows back!"
"But it will grow back" said Mary, crossing her arms. "And who, may I ask, are you that you should care so much for little Anthony's welfare?"
Uh-oh.
"Well.."
"She's Rory's Aunt" Said Amy quickly. "Mary, meet Professor River Song. River, meet Mary."
"Professor?" Mary looked skeptical, not entirely unjustified in doing so given the time period, though River still wanted to throttle her. "Of what?"
"Archaeology" River replied, eyes shooting daggers at the other woman.
"Well, now that you two have been introduced, I think we really should be going" Amy forced a smile, grabbing River's arm. "You know, get Anthony checked by a Doctor, in case he does need stitches. And Mary, maybe just have a little chat to Thomas about patience? Okay, bye!"
"Oh, I could have strangled that woman!" River grumbled, once they were a short distance away.
"So could I, most of the time" said Amy, carrying the still whimpering Anthony. "But then I remember that it's best for us not to draw to much attention to ourselves."
"I know that, but she was just so.."
Neither one of them noticed that the little girl on the swing-set had followed them until she cut around in front of them, holding up a handkerchief.
"To wipe blood" she said, pointing at Anthony's face.
"Don't you need that yourself, Sweetheart?" Asked, River crouching to the little girl's eye level. The sweet gesture had made her almost forget her anger towards Mary and Thomas, and now she noticed that the girl did look very familiar, but still couldn't quite place her.
"No." The little girl shook her head, pushing the handkerchief into River's hand. "I gots lots more hankies at Home."
"Well, alright then. Thank you" River smiled, lightly ruffling the little girl's hair just as she would Anthony's. "You better run back to your Mummy now, okay?"
"Okay" The girl replied, doing as River said. "Bye-bye!"
"Buh-bye" Anthony called, waving over Amy's shoulder.
River watched her go, trying to think of why she was so familiar, then shook her head and stood, checking the hanky was clean, before turning back to Amy and Anthony.
"Turn your head this way, Little Prince, I can wipe some of that yucky blood off your face while we walk."
"Okay, Rivvy."
"Do you really think he needs stitches?" asked Amy frowning.
"Uh.." River cleaned some of the blood away from his lip to get a closer look. "No. It's not too deep. Mouths just bleed a lot.."
The little girl returned to her unimpressed Mother.
"Clara Oswald! What have I told you about running off and talking to strangers?"
"Sorry, Mummy. But that lil' boy was bleeding, and they didn't gots a hanky."
"Well.. That's okay. Just don't do it again."
"I won't."
AN: Okay, I decided to split this one into three parts so I could get the cliffhanger resolved nice and quickly for you. And yes, before anyone asks, that Clara, lets just call her 'Little Clara' for now, will appear again later on.