Where River and Romana finally do something about the wife.

This chapter (and the last one) probably had the most comments by my wonderful beta-readers in terms of 'What? How could you?!' so I guess that says a lot about it. It was fun to write, though. Now I just hope it's as fun to read :)

'I am President of Gallifrey, and therefore, the Doctor's conviction falls under my jurisdiction.' Romana's voice was calm and collected as she glared at the Governor of Stormcage. Their argument had been going back and forth for a while now and one got the distinct feeling that Romana was winning. Outside, still in the TARDIS, River followed the entire thing on one of the monitors, having come to the conclusion with Romana that it would be best if she stayed out of sight while at the Governor's office.

In her younger, wilder days, when she had still been incarcerated in Stormcage herself, she had been a regular visitor in this particular office and they all agreed that their mission was rather more likely to fail if she showed up now. It wouldn't have mattered if they just wanted to stage a prison break for the Doctor and get away, but Sarah had made a very good argument against that. If they wanted to get the Doctor free for good, she needed to be cleared of all charges - whatever they'd turn out to be - and that could only be done through the proper channels, so they decided to at least give it a try. A proper prison break could still be a backup plan, if needed.

Romana had tried to convince her to join them, but Sarah had declined, saying she had 'a few things to do and settle back on earth'. And while she had her suspicions about the meaning of that, River didn't dwell on it and instead focused fully on the discussion outside. She rather liked this regeneration of Romana, she seemed to have little trouble making the Governor cower before her.

'I do not want to go through any other of your records, Governor,' she said coldly. 'I simply want the Doctor so she may be brought to justice by her own people. Not some -' she hesitated, looking him and the Judoon next to him up and down dismissively, '-alien pretend-police.'

One had to give it to Romana, she knew how to boss people around and she could talk circles around anyone - River felt almost sorry for the Governor by the time she was done with him. He didn't even notice, just looking resigned when he handed over the Doctor's file and gave her permission to enter the Judoon wing. It didn't mean that she was quite free yet, but it was a start.

After that, it was a simple matter of moving the disguised TARDIS to the entrance of the Judoon wing and wait for the others to arrive. It didn't take too long, the Judoon leading them towards the entrance grudgingly. Had her thoughts not been so preoccupied trying to get to the Doctor, Romana would have probably drank in everything with hungry eyes. Lady President she might be now, she still used to travel with the Doctor and it had left a curiosity for all foreign places she encountered. Even if they happened to be a prison.. As it was, she had a rather grim look on her face and was radiating determination that left no doubt she would get done what they had come to do.

'This is Professor Song,' she introduced River when they reached her, leaning unperturbed against the high security gate. 'She will be joining us.'

'She has no permission,' the Judoon, who's name River hadn't caught, protested. Romana glared at him.

'She is the Doctor's wife. She needs no more permission than that.' Could the Judoon shrug, he would have but instead, he just tilted his head for River to step aside so he could let them all in and gave no more protest.

It was strange, River thought as she followed them through the hallways, lined with prison cells left and right. It was strange to walk through Stormcage, a sort of home for a good hundred years of her life, as an outsider, a free woman.

Whenever she had been scouring these halls before, she had been a prisoner herself, either braking in or out again, or, on rarer occasions, on her way to yet another mission to help her appeal her sentence. At the time, every prisoner in every cell had known and feared her - she had been known as the worst of the worst, ruthless, calculating and merciless. She had worked so hard to build up her reputation in the universe and even after twenty years of living in this time again, it was still strange to run into it again. The hundreds of years in the library and on Gallifrey before coming back, she had been someone else entirely, untainted by the actions and the pretense River Song portrayed to the entire universe.

They took several turns River vaguely recognised from the floor plans of the other areas of Stormcage and finally came to stop in front of a heavy steel door.

'You need to speak to the Warden about the release of "the Doctor",' the Judoon explained coldly and pressed several keys on the pad next to the door. It slid open without a sound, classic future technology. They stepped into the office, River and Romana in the front this time. 'The ones who want to appeal the Doctor's sentence.'

There was a short conversation between the Judoon who had brought them and the one occupying the office, before the latter turned his attention to his guests.

'What do you want?'

'To take the Doctor with us,' Romana repeated. 'She is to be brought before the council of Gallifrey, so we shall retrieve her from your care. It is no longer necessary.'

'Why do you want her?'

'She does not fall under your jurisdiction.' This time it was River who answered, eyes hard. 'As a Gallifreyan Time Lord, she needs to face the justice of her own people.'

'And neither the Judoon nor the Shadow Proclamation have any rule over the people of Gallifrey.'

'Unless you get her here now and allow us all to leave with her, I'm afraid I'll have to blow this place up.' The Judoon made an odd sound, as if he was snorting, at River's words, but her face was dead serious.

'You have no authority to interfere with the Doctor's sentence.'

'Yes we do. I am the Doctor's wife. By rights of Article 261, §739 of the Proclamation of Galactic Law, in this time period enforced by the Shadow Proclamation, I have every right to not only see my wife, but also appeal her sentence on her behalf while she is incapacitated.'

'And I am the highest authority of Gallifrey, the planet the Doctor originates from. She may have spent a lot of time on Sol3, also known as Earth, with humans, but she is still one of my subjects, one that you, according to Article 3907, §842 of the Proclamation of Galactic Law, have no authority over whatsoever. So please, do try to provoke me and see if the Shadow Proclamation will be as lenient with your practices here in Stormcage afterwards.'

'I,' growled the Judoon angrily, 'will not be threatened by two nimble females -'

'Do you even know who we are?' River's voice was low, cutting and cold. Just a moment ago, the hard threat in Romana's voice had been evident, but it had nothing on River's voice right now. Even Romana herself, who was on her side, had to force herself not to shiver and retreat. There was a reason, she thought, both River Song and Patience had been regarded not only as highly skilled, but had also been classified as potential threats of the highest level.

She stepped forward, behind the desk, sneaking around the Judoon soundlessly like a cat in the night.

No one dared to move. Whatever was going on, it was out of their hands now.

'You have no idea,' River whispered, yet everyone heard her, 'who you are dealing with. Have you already forgotten who I am? Have you really forgotten my face?' The Judoon didn't move, paralysed by the woman even he could perceive as a threat. 'I'm River Song. And I've done my research.'

With a single, fast, unexpected motion, River had disarmed the Judoon and her blaster pressed to the back of his head. A rhino he might be, but even rhinos, especially ones not wearing full armor, couldn't survive a shot from a sonic blaster pressed against their skull that way.

'Today,' River continued as if nothing had happened, 'is the day the Judoon wing of Stormcage ceases to exist. And you know what? There won't be any casualties amongst the prisoners.' She paused, quickly glancing at Romana who watched the entire scene unfold with an eerily impassive look.

'No casualties,' she repeated, 'because there are no prisoners in this part of Stormcage. It's empty. It was built for one purpose, and one purpose only. It was built to contain the Doctor. But the Doctor is leaving today because we are here to take her with us.'

'What happens to you is your own choice,' Romana suddenly cut in. 'Either let us get the Doctor and leave, or be contained here while we get her on our own and be here when we leave still.' Perhaps there was still more of Romana III in her than she usually displayed, cold and calculating like this. Romana II certainly would have been horrified by the display before her, but right now, she didn't even blink.

'You will never find her,' the Judoon finally spat at them, unwilling to cooperate.

'Your choice.' River shrugged and before he could move out of her reach, she had thrust the end of her blaster into the sensitive spot right next to the Judoon's ear. With a loud clatter, he slumped down on the floor, knocked out cold.

Neither River nor Romana paid him any more attention as Romana grabbed his keycard from the table. River was already waiting by the door, sonic pointed at the control that would open it.

'Are you going to leave him like that?'

River shrugged. 'No point in shooting him. The records said he dies in the fire, so why bother?'

'Then let's get going.'

They did. Outside, flashing the keycard at the guards was all it took to be pointed in the right direction.

One should have thought that in a prison wing built to contain only one prisoner, security for said prisoner would be at a peak at all times. But it seemed that being so secluded and cut off from the rest of the prison had made the Judoon uncharacteristically lax in their suspiciousness of strangers, even when they were waving high clearance access cards at them. But even if they hadn't been told which direction to go in, their scanners showed the lifesigns of only one non-Judoon presence in the entire area and River knew the halls well enough to lead them there without any delay.

'This should be it,' Romana finally announced in front of a heavy steel door. It looked no different than any of the other cell doors they had passed, vastly different from the iron bars in River's former cell, and had their scanners not indicated a gallifreyan presence inside the cell, they would have just walked past it.

Impatiently, River snatched the keycard from Romana and held it to the key panel next to the door.

Nothing happened.

'What…' she hissed, frustration blatant on her face. Even Romana frowned. So far, everything had gone off without a hitch - minor hitches - so perhaps they shouldn't have been surprised that they were now running into obstacles just before reaching their destination. River was having none of it, her eyes shining with determination. 'Blast it.'

It wasn't intended for Romana, who jumped back just in time as River pulled out her sonic and pointed it at the control panel. It whized for a moment, gave a blaring signal, then shut down. Romana briefly considered pulling River back, but she had already pulled out her blaster and aimed it at the panel. One precise shot was all it took before the casing of the little box snapped open and its innards were laid bare for them. Between the two of them, hot-wiring the circuits took less than five minutes and finally, the door slid open.

'Doctor?' Carefully, River stepped into the cell while Romana waited outside, keeping an eye on both the hallway and the door so it wouldn't lock them in.

Despite the difference from the outside, the cell looked very much like River's had when she first arrived in Stormcage. There were no personal belongings anywhere, nothing that said anything about the person inhabiting the cell.

The Doctor was lying on the cot, her eyes closed but River knew that she wasn't asleep. Without hesitation, she made her way over to her.

'Doctor?' she asked again. 'It's me. River. I'm here to take you home. Prison break for you, not me, for once, so -'

'Stop.' She did. It wasn't hearing her wife's voice for the first time, it was how cold and resigned she sounded. 'You're not River. River is dead. She died in the library. If I open my eyes now, she won't be there because you are playing mind-games again.'

'Oh sweetie,' River whispered, horrified and furious about what had apparently been going on before their arrival. Gently, she took another step towards the Doctor and knelt down next to the cot, all while speaking in that soft voice she reserved only for the Doctor. 'I'm going to sit down next to you, my love. And then I am going to touch your hands, so you can feel that I am really truly here. But if you still do not believe me then, I will whisper something to you. Not out loud, just in your mind, if you let me. Something only me, the real River, can know.'

'You can't be real,' the Doctor repeated but she also didn't protest when River laced their fingers together and brushed a stray lock of hair from her forehead. Blonde now too. Pretty.

The moment her fingers grazed the Doctor's forehead, she opened her own mind, just enough to reach out to her wife, and whispered her name, and the promise made on their wedding on Gallifrey, and suddenly, the Doctor's eyes snapped open.

'River!' The moment seemed to last for an eternity as they stared at each other, unable to fathom the happiness of seeing one another again after so long. It was impossible for them to say, despite their timesense, how long they had been lost in the other's eyes before the Doctor finally broke the silence, reaching out to cradle River's face between her hands.

'You're older,' she whispered, eyes wide in disbelief. 'I saw you die. But you're alive, and you're here -'

'It's a long story, sweetie,' River interrupted gently and pushed herself up. 'Can you stand? The sooner we get out of here the better - we can catch you up in the TARDIS.'

'Alright.' Grasping River's offered hand, the Doctor stood up too and, with one last glance around her cell, made her way over to the door. She never made it through the door, stopping dead when she felt who stood outside, giving her a mischievous smile. 'Romana?!'

'The one and only.'

'But, but you died.' The Doctor eyed her old friend, eyes narrowed. 'You've regenerated.'

'Yes. So have you - finally a woman now, do you like it?'

'I'm short.' Her face scrunched up at that, when the realisation that both River and Romana were now taller than her - though not by much. They both laughed and Romana finally pulled her out of the cell and into a warm hug.

'It's good to have you back, Doctor,' she said. They held each other for a moment but pulled apart when River's scanner started giving off a high-pitched beeping. She cursed.

'We have to go. Someone triggered a security protocol and if we don't hurry, we'll be stuck in here when the place blows up.'

'Then let's go - up for a run, Doctor?' Romana pointedly ignored the Doctor's look of upset upon hearing that they were planning to blow up the prison, but River glanced at her.

'It was built for you, sweetie. There are no other prisoners here. And it's in the history books that it blows up today, so all we do is keep the timeline intact.'

And that was that, because the next thing they knew, they were running down the corridors they had come through, up several flights of stairs and then finally towards the main gate of the Judoon wing, right where the TARDIS was waiting for them. Still in the run, River pulled out her sonic and pointed it at the gate and unlike the cell door downstairs, it swung open immediately, letting them pass without trouble. From there, it was only getting into the TARDIS and then into the vortex, which seemed to take no time at all.

'Oh, I missed you, old girl,' the Doctor whispered with a beaming grin on her face, wandering around the TARDIS with her fingers trailing along the walls. 'I haven't been without you for so long since way back when I was working for UNIT, remember that? Oh, I've really, really missed you.'

'Well, glad as I am that you are reunited, I think we are all in dire need of some tea,' River announced. 'And we need to catch you up on a few things, Doctor.'

No one could argue with that, and tea was always a good idea, so it didn't take long before they were all seated around the kitchen table with steaming mugs in front of them.

The Doctor told them what had happened after her capture and being taken prisoner - no torture per say, and she had been treated well, but they had the nasty habit of using some sort of telepathic devide to project the voices of people into the Doctor's mind.

River and Romana, in return, brought her up to speed about the fate of Gallifrey and what they had been doing for the last few weeks. Then Romana caught her up on being reinstated as President, regenerating herself and finally, she excused herself with a smile.

'The two of you,' she said, 'you need some time to yourselves. Talk about -' River gave her a sharp look - 'things.'

'Thank you, Romana.' Once she'd left, River and the Doctor looked at each other for a long moment before River, very tentatively, asked: 'Maybe we should move this conversation somewhere more comfortable.'

They ended up in the sitting room next to their bedroom, the one that was off limits for companions, family only. The first order of business, as River called it, was to finally explain how she had gotten out of the Library and back into a body.

'I am so sorry you died for me,' the Doctor whispered eventually, not looking at River for the tears in her eyes. But River was having none of it, gently brushing them off her cheeks.

'I would do it all over again. I said the same thing to my parents, not too long ago: There were parts of my life that were horrible, yes, but the good bits make up for it by tenfold.'

'But you haven't seen me since the library and the last few times I saw you before that-' she choked but River just smiled, that ancient, knowing smile that had always driven her crazy.

'There's something I haven't told you yet,' she said softly. 'But it might be easier to...show you. May I?'

'Of course. You don't need to ask, River. Never you.' At the conviction in the Doctor's voice, River's smile broadened, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she placed her fingers on her wife's temples and let their foreheads drop together. Then, she slipped into the Doctor's mind.

In the years that she had been living on Gallifrey, River had spent a lot of time studying the arts of the mind. One could say she had become quite the expert at it, so when she found herself in this brilliant mind as familiar as her own, she walked through it with ease.

The Doctor let her. She wondered, of course, where she was going, why she wouldn't show her any memories of her own, and held back a gasp when River made her way towards a set of memories she hardly ever pulled forth. If one was speaking in images, it would perhaps be best to describe them as dusty and half forgotten. A little like an old photograph with a sheen covering it, the old box in the corner of the attic that was so covered by cobwebs that it looked like a single touch would make it crumble to dust.

Over the years, she had often tried to remove the metaphorical cobwebs in order to retrieve the memories inside the box, but she had always failed. So when River made her way towards them, the Doctor wasn't sure what she expected to happen. Not much.

Only, when River touched the cobwebs, they...disappeared. Just like that.

And then she opened the box, smiled and left the Doctor's mind.

For a long time, the Doctor just sat in silence, tears making their way down her cheeks as half forgotten memories settled in place again, became clear as if they had just happened yesterday and when she finally opened her eyes, they were filled with nothing but genuine love and adoration.

'Oh River, ' she whispered breathlessly, then pulled her wife into a soft kiss. River melted into her arms and just clung to her, as if holding her wife for the first time.

'It's you.' It almost sounded like she couldn't believe it. 'It's always been you, only ever you, oh River - I'm so sorry I made you do-'

'Hush, sweetie.' A finger covered the Doctor's lips and she stopped talking, waiting for her wife to continue. The pure love in River's eyes matched hers and for the first time in centuries, she really felt like she was complete. River gave her a warm smile. 'It was the only way. We agreed on it, didn't we? We both knew that one day, you'd leave and when you did, you couldn't remember me because you didn't know me when you met me later.'

'But it hurt you!'

'And I told you: It was well worth it. I don't regret one single moment of it.'

'Even when I was a grumpy old git?' The way the Doctor's face scrunched up at the memories of her earlier incarnations was adorable and River couldn't hold back a small laugh as she shook her head.

'You really were, weren't you? But no -' her curls bounces around her shoulders '- not even those times.'

'I always thought…' She paused, eyes finding River's, and started over. 'I always thought you were amazing, ever since the first time I used to remember meeting you. You knew so much about me, but back then, you also scared the hell out of me. And then I got to know you and you treated every one of my regenerations the same and I thought, "that kind of love is so rare even on Gallifrey, spanning regenerations", and "she'd love it there", but now, now I know you did and we -' suddenly, her eyes widened. 'The children!'

This time, it was River who averted her eyes. 'Susan is fine,' she said slowly. 'She was time locked on Gallifrey, after...you know.'

'What about the others?'

'Ben is fine. He's on Romana's council.' She hesitated, swallowed thickly. 'Emilia, Sarah and Arthur didn't survive the war.'

'Oh.' What a pathetic reaction, the Doctor thought to herself, to learn about the death of her own children. Children she had grieved for centuries when she had not even remembered their names but thought them all dead on the planet that had once been her home.

'Ben has two children now,' River interrupted her dark dwellings, pulling her back to lighter ground. 'Sarah's children…' She shook her head. 'They were all together.'

'When?'

'Arcadia. They moved there, long before the war. Arthur was with them too.'

'What about Em?' She didn't really want to know, but she had to. She needed to know, even if she feared the answer.

'She was out fighting. Couldn't stop her, no matter how hard I tried. You know how she was.' Rubbing her head, River pushed herself up and wandered over to the window, staring out into space. For a long moment, silence hung over the room before she spoke up again. 'Susan was with her. She told me what happened. Em died protecting her.' She whirled around, grief suddenly painting deep lines on her face, making her seem older than ever. 'It should have been me, out there, fighting, protecting them, and I couldn't because it was written in the damn history books that I was not involved!'

'Even if you had been there,' the Doctor said softly, stepping closer, 'there was nothing you could have done. It was a war, a terrible, unfair war and we did what had to be done.'

'I know.' There was nothing but resignation on River's face, resignation the Doctor could understand better than anyone. They all had lost so much in the Time War, and even more now, yet they had to stay strong and be brave and go on for the sake of the people who looked up to them.

'Jenny has been living with me for a while,' River suddenly said, a smile back on her face. 'I went looking for her after I left Gallifrey, and it turned out she didn't die on Messaline.'

'Really? Oh, that's fantastic!' It was nice, knowing that with all the terrible things that had happened, there had also been good things like Jenny coming home and Susan and Ben's children - she looked at her wife and smiled back at her.

'Then what are we waiting for? Let's go home meet the family!'