I want to start by apologising profusely for my prolonged absence – the internet overlords decided to deny you fic – they were redoing the cables or something in my area so there was only meant to be a two day absence (after the two days I waited to give you an update) making a four day delay. Then when it was "fixed" it no longer worked (BT! *shakes fist*) for a further four days before they got their act together. Furthermore, some things have been going on with me that I had to deal with, I'm not sure how that will affect my writing but I hope that you'll understand that I need to focus on being well. I hope you haven't give up on me and my sorry fic :( If you're still paying attention to the mush I churn out under the guise of a story, thank you for sticking with me through 25 chapters and for leaving me 357 reviews (seriously, bad days always concur with me checking my reviews for your lovely comments :)

Enough of the rambling – here you go. I suppose this is what you'd call a filler chapter but my excuse is that I've made a self-enforced quota that there has to be at least two chapters per week of the pregnancy (not long how that's gonna go on for before I do a time-jump if I get bored ;)

One last thing – I don't see how LKH affects my story that much apart from what I said about 'baby' Melody. So I suppose it's a little AU. But not much.

26. Bored

"Aren't you terrified you're going to get bored of this?" She asked – a worry she'd concealed until now, casually bringing it up in an attempt to sound like it didn't really bother her.

"Bored of what?" He asked. They were entwined together, sheet thrown haphazardly over their bodies.

"Bored of me... bored of how we live now." She tried to hide her doubt with a thin attempt at a mile, as if she was joking – even thought she clearly wasn't.

"I'll never tire of living like this." He sighed, smiling and reaching a hand up to tangle in her hair. She believed him, but that was only one of the many doubts in her mind.

"Even if boredom isn't what does it – everything has to end eventually. Everybody knows that everybody dies – one day, we'll both be gone." She finished in a whisper, barely getting the words out before he spoke abruptly.

"No – ours is a love that exists out o time. There'll always be another adventure, in another place – in another time – the universe will never be rid of us." He managed to articulate his thoughts on the subject rather well, considering he was focusing all his energy on not crying as he watched her flash before his eyes – he still felt the cold metal of the handcuffs while she sacrificed herself. She seemed not to have noticed that his mind was other places, continuing.

"But for us, though – one day the time will come when each of us has lived through all of our times together – what happens then?" She looked directly into his eyes and in that moment it was almost as if she was reading his very soul for a reaction – but he only paused for a split-second before reconfirming his belief in his own ability to save her.

"We make more." Her face broke into a smile, and he swore that her eyes, brimming with trust and hope and love, where the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"I love you." She lowered her gaze to his neck, tangling her hands in his hair.

"I love you too." He replied, sighing contentedly. His hands had found hers, and he was tracing letters into her palm like he always did when he was drowsy and spent. Dropping her hands gently by her sides, he ran his fingers over the skin of her stomach.

"I love you as well, my little timelord. You are going to be so, so special." He leaned down to place a kiss on her belly. She hadn't grown there just yet – there wasn't much of a difference and he couldn't be sure that when he thought he saw a slight miniscule bump, it wasn't water retention or wishful thinking.

"I love that." She looked down at him. "I love that you speak to it like that." He grinned sheepishly and she ruffled his hair affectionately.

"I like doing it – I like to think that one day, I'll speak to it and it'll have developed enough to actually hear me." He confessed.

"I like thinking that too – but I wish we didn't have to call our baby 'it' all the time." She didn't like it at all – this baby was theirs – and it would always be so much more than just an 'it'.

"Me neither, but there isn't really any alternative unless we cheat..." He raised his eyebrows somewhat suggestively, implying that they employ the benefits of living in a time machine, maybe asking Jack of even just going for the earliest sonogram possible.

"No, I want to wait. Everything about us is impossible, and this child will be the most impossible of all, but perhaps keeping it this way for a while will be a good dose of normal for us." Even if her curiosity was screaming at her to agree and find out, she wasn't going to be naïve and assume that things wouldn't get just a little frustrating at times.

"Yeah, you're right – although I have to say, the chances of this being normal are pretty slim..."

"I know that, but we could at least try to be remotely ordinary while I'm pregnant – it might be the last bit of peace we get for years. Babies are meant to be hard work, right? Think of how much harder it'll be with all the weird timelordy stuff." She sighed but The Doctor's eyes widened considerably as he fully comprehended how difficult even the logistics of this could be.

"You're right..." His face was pale. "Oh God, I know nothing about children!" He started to panic, imagining various scenarios where he ruined his child's life one way or another.

"What do you mean? You've had children before..."

"Yes, but that was centuries ago – oh my god, River – what are we going to do?" He was rapidly deteriorating, and if his hands hadn't been entwined in hers he would probably have been flapping his arms manically. She quickly took his head between her hands, stilling him instantly.

"We are going to take this one step at a time and do some swotting up – don't worry, you're going to be an excellent father." She looked so sincere that he couldn't do anything but believe it himself. For all her worries about the pregnancy and the baby, she had immediately calmed him when he began to panic. It was at times like this that he could fully appreciate how much he really needed her.

"You're going to be brilliant, you know?" He brushed a stray curl from her eyes.

"I know." She grinned.

"We're going to be brilliant." They were both grinning now – it was infectious.

"Yeah."

"The coolest family there ever was..." His eyes widened.

"Yeah." She was just agreeing now – he was a dreamer, this was what he did.

"Travelling the stars – everyday an adventure, every second full of joy and happiness and love..." The way he imagined it was entrancing and she was beginning to lose her vocabulary, responding in the same way for the third time in a row.

"Yeah."

"It's gonna be amazing." He leant down to kiss her on the lips – that got her attention. Pulling away, he saw the smile on her face reappear.

"Now you tell me if you think you'd ever be bored..." She kissed him again, and before he forgot what she had said, he managed to answer against her skin.

"Of this? Never.

I know it's not that long, I would've like to give you a really long one as an apology but there was really only so long I could drag out this one conversation. Again, apologies.