Chapter Twenty Eight

Finally, after a couple of weeks of drifting aimlessly, the TARDIS finally got through to the Doctor and convinced him to go somewhere, anywhere where he could take his mind off of losing Rose and Donna. He chose Lavinallia, a harmless enough planet. At the moment, he had no interest in fighting monsters or doing anything strenuous. Just a quick hike through the red leafed forests of the planet, enough to satisfy the TARDIS, and then back again into the vortex.

Hopefully, she'll leave me alone after that, he thought.

The TARDIS landed and powered down while the Doctor stared at the front door, dreading his first step outside. As he walked over to the ramp, he paused a moment. He swore he could sense for a brief second the TARDIS's anguish in his mind. Although why she was upset, he had no clue. After all, he was doing what she wanted, wasn't he?

Who knows what the TARDIS is thinking at any given moment, he thought. She's probably still just grieving for Rose and Donna and sympathizing with my loss.

Gathering his strength, he opened the door and stepped outside onto a grassy plain. The wind was blowing lightly causing the long blades of green grass to dance at his feet. To his right was a vast forest and to his left were several rolling hills. Other than the TARDIS and himself, there seemed to be no other signs of life.

Good, he thought. I'm not in the mood to…

He glanced off towards the hills when he heard someone shouting at someone else to be careful. Groaning, he turned and started to go back inside, but something compelled him to see who it was. Whether it was sheer curiosity about whom the owner of the voice was or whether something deep within him was directing his steps, he wasn't sure, but he suddenly had an overwhelming desire to see what was going on. Closing the door, he stuck his hands in his pockets and sauntered over towards the hills.

He reached the top of the first hill and noticed a dig site below him. Several people were working on unearthing a huge dinosaur-like creature, completely oblivious to his presence. Fascinated, the Doctor stood on the hill, staring at the bones while he tried to work out what the thing had been. Beyond the dig site stood several large canvas tents and occasionally someone would stop working and rush over to the largest one, go inside for a few moments and then rush back out. This continued for several minutes before he heard a voice that chilled him to the very marrow of his bones.

"Alright, guys, let's break for lunch!"

The Doctor's blood ran cold when the owner of the voice emerged from the tent. He recognized her immediately and watched mesmerized as her long, brown curly hair bounced in the breeze while she walked towards the dig site. His throat went dry and his hearts began to race like mad inside his chest until he felt like they were racing one another. Suddenly, he understood why the TARDIS had been so upset when she brought him here. Rooted to the spot, he could only stare at the woman who was soon to become entangled in his life.

She hasn't seen me, he thought frantically. She hasn't seen me yet, so I could go back to the TARDIS and come back another day. I'll come back and get her another day, just not today, it's too soon and…

"Oi! You on the hill!"

His thoughts froze along with his body when she finally spotted him. The other diggers stopped what they were doing and turned to look while she headed towards him.

"Stop right there!" she barked as she hurried towards the hill. "This dig site is restricted! You might damage the find!"

Good, then I'll leave and come back in several more years…or maybe never, the Doctor thought.

He finally found the strength to move and turned around to head back to the TARDIS.

"I said, halt, pretty boy!"

The Doctor groaned at her use of the nauseating epithet. He slowly turned back and forced himself to look her in the face. Bile rose in his throat when the image of her dying in front of him flashed into his mind and he had to fight to keep from vomiting on her plimsols. She wasn't wearing a space suit this time, just khaki shorts and a red t-shirt, which made her look odd to him. More images of her flooded into his mind while she stood in front of him with her hands on her hips.

"Okay, who are you exactly?" she said. "This section of the planet isn't known for being a tourist haven, so why are you here? Are you spying on us, hoping to claim our find for your own?"

The Doctor swallowed hard and shook his head.

"Okay, well who are you then and why are you here?"

Terror gripped the Doctor. He had half a mind to tell the pushy brunette to piss off and run back to the TARDIS. He wanted so much to run away, never look back and never think of her again, much less take her on board. But…he realized with sinking spirits that he couldn't do that. She was a part of his personal time line and if he denied her the spot on his TARDIS, she would never meet his younger self and help save The Library from the Vashta Nerada and the paradox would destroy all of creation. Anger swelled up within him at the feeling of powerlessness he had over the situation. He didn't want to do this, didn't want to ruin this young woman's life, but he had no choice. For the good of the universe, he had to play his part in the wider cosmic drama. Wishing fervently that he had stayed with his Rose and given his clone the keys to the TARDIS, he swallowed hard, forced an "everything is peachy" look on his face and by sheer force of will made the words escape his lips.

"I'm….the Doctor," he said, loathing the name as it left his mouth.

"Doctor who?"

Doctor I Wanna Get The Hell Outta Here, he thought.

He swallowed again, trying to lubricate his throat.

"Just…the Doctor," he said, wearily.

She extended her hand.

"Okay, Just The Doctor, I'm Professor River Song," she said.

Automatically, the Doctor grasped her hand and pumped it up and down repeatedly.

"Now, since you aren't telling me your full name, I'm assuming you're a spy, is that cor…um…you can stop shaking my hand now."

The Doctor glanced down and noticed that he was still pumping her hand up and down without even realizing it. He quickly jerked his hand away with a muttered apology. River nodded.

"Apology accepted. Now, who are you?"

The Doctor sighed.

"I'm just…a traveler," he said, tired of repeating the same snatch of dialogue over and over to countless people.

Pretty soon I'll have to show her the TARDIS and then it'll be the whole walking around it, going in, bigger on the inside jazz, he thought, bitterly.

River regarded the man quietly when she noticed he seemed lost in his thoughts. He was tall, thin and gangly with tousled hair. A bit too thin for her liking but he had a pretty baby face that was pleasant to look at and more than made up for it. But the most striking feature about him was his eyes. Even though he was a young man, his eyes looked ancient to her, almost alien. And so sad. He looked like he had just lost his best friend a thousand times over. There was a weariness to them that bespoke of countless tragedies that she could only begin to guess at. Even though he had a neutral expression on his face, his eyes held sorrow within them that went far beyond his years. Staring into them, she felt the anger she had inside replaced by sympathy and her demeanor instantly changed. Somehow, she sensed, this man was telling her the truth.

"Okay," she said, more gently. "So, you're a traveler. Why come here then? I mean this isn't exactly on the beaten path. The nearest city is a hundred miles away."

"I…"

The Doctor floundered around for an explanation.

"I just wanna be alone," he said, finally settling for the truth.

River felt her heart ache. The way he had said that, it was like a little lost boy that needed to be comforted by his mummy and it made her want to hold him and ease whatever heartache he was going through.

"Well, look, I don't know why, but I trust you and if you are a traveler, then you're welcome to come into my tent and have a cup of tea and rest, alright?"

She noticed him stiffen his body before he finally nodded.

"Look, just follow me and I'll get you something to drink," she said, taking his hand.

Again, she noticed the slight stiffening of the body before he followed her around the dig site towards the tent. On the way, she pointed down to the dinosaur.

"I don't know how familiar you are with this planet, but that's an Ososaurus. Lived two million years ago and it's extremely rare to find a skeleton intact, which is why we're on the lookout for spies from rival camps. There are several digs going on besides ours and any one of them would be chomping at the bit to get this. Worth a lot of money and prestige once we get it back to the museum."

The Doctor nodded, only half listening. Reaching the tent, River pulled back the flap and let him inside. There was a wooden table with chairs on one side and a small cot on the other. On top of the table were several maps and diagrams and a metal lantern, currently unlit.

"Please sit," she said.

Again the moment of hesitation before the Doctor sunk into the nearest chair. River walked over to a small refrigerator that had a hotplate on top and picked up a teapot that was resting on it. She grabbed a mug from a basket beside the refrigerator and poured him some tea.

"Anything with it? Sugar, cream, lemon juice?"

"No thanks, I'll take it black," the Doctor said.

River set the mug down in front of him and settled herself into the seat opposite from his.

"So, you travel. Where have you traveled to?"

"All over," the Doctor said, dully.

River frowned, the curiosity finally getting the better of her.

"Listen, I don't mean to pry, but are you alright? You look like you just lost your best friend."

She noticed the pained look for a moment before the poker face quickly reasserted itself. He stared at her and River sensed he was debating whether or not to tell her the truth. Finally, he nodded.

"I lost two best friends," he said.

River leaned forward, thankful that they were finally getting somewhere.

"How?" she said. "If you don't mind me asking."

She recoiled when just for an instant, anger flashed in his eyes and then, just as quickly, the weariness came back.

"It's a long story," he said. "A very long story."

River smiled.

"Well, that skeleton outside is gonna take awhile to uncover and I'm not going anywhere if you wanna talk about it."

"No!"

River was taken aback. With that one spat out word, she sensed a flood of bottled up hostility that lay beneath the passive persona. She watched as he blinked and cleared his throat.

"I mean, no, I really don't wanna talk about it," he said in a much gentler tone of voice.

River nodded, not wanting to press the issue. She hoped he would say what was wrong eventually, she hadn't known him for long, but the man was fascinating to her. She could sense there was more to him than met the eye and she was anxious to keep him talking in the hope he would reveal more of himself to her.

Unfortunately, she never got that chance because at the very moment, they heard terrified screams from the other diggers. Both of them leaped to their feet and bolted towards the opening. The Doctor reached it first, shoved back the flap and stood there awestruck as he watched the Ososaurus skeleton come to life and rise up out of the packed Earth it had laid in for untold eons. River stood behind him, hardly daring to believe her eyes as her fellow diggers threw their sack lunches up in the air and scattered in all directions.

"What the hell?" River said. "It can't do that. That's impossible!"

The Doctor felt his hearts sink to the ground.

And so it begins, he thought as he whipped out his screwdriver and ran towards the rampaging bone beast.