Ch 34
Clothes began to litter the floor next to the pictures and over the next hour, the pair of Timelords found themselves on the floor as well. River was placing kisses on her husband's bare chest, her skin still flushed and tingling from their romantic escapade. "Now there's a memory to go along with your pictures." She purred.
"I think the camera loves you as much as I do," he said breathlessly. They'd taken the opportunity to take a few pictures as River had suggested.
She hummed, "I guess you have some competition then." She teased.
"We all know I'm your favorite."
"Oh, well, you sound quite sure of yourself." She raised an eyebrow, "How do you know that?"
"I think what we just did was a hint." He grinned.
She smiled, rolling on her back, flinching slightly as her hand grazed the scar in her abdomen. His brow lowered just slightly in an indication that he'd noticed the flinch and in silent asking if she was alright. "I'm fine." She muttered, "I just wish this wasn't here so I didn't have to be reminded of what happened every time I look in the mirror." Her hands were tracing over the scar.
He nodded his understanding. "It should fade eventually."
"I don't want it to just fade. I want it gone entirely." She sighed, removing her hand.
"I know," he murmured because there was nothing else to say. They knew that wasn't how scars worked, and the only real way to get rid of it was regeneration energy, which he knew River didn't appreciate being used on her.
"It doesn't matter." She shook her head, trying to brush it off now. "We should shower off."
He let it go. "Backing out of helping me choose a photo, are we?"
"Oh...I forgot we were doing that." She admitted.
"Well, we did get sidetracked."
They started re-gathering the pictures, both old and new. They took their time picking up the photos as well as their clothes, eventually settling back on the couch fully dressed again.
River was quiet, examining one of the new pictures they had taken today, eyes locked on something in the photo. She was, of course, looking at the scar again, visible in the picture. She quickly looked away when she realized her husband was watching, "You know, the pictures from today aren't that great. You should just keep your old ones."
"I think they look lovely." He murmured.
She bit her lip, "Well I don't fancy them."
He knew why she thought this, though didn't hold the same disquiet towards the photos. "What would you rather me do with them?"
"Throw them out." She shook her head.
He hesitated, then nodded. "Alright, I will." He didn't really want to, but he knew it would make her more comfortable to know they weren't going to be looked at even by him. It's wasn't like they couldn't take more photos albeit ones that River felt better about him keeping.
"I'm sorry." She murmured.
"Why? They're photos of you, you have the right to decide what happens with them."
"I suppose, but still."
"It's alright. We can always take some later. The camera's not going anywhere." He pressed a kiss to her temple.
She smiled weakly, "I guess so."
"Now," he held up a photo of River, one he'd snuck long ago whilst she'd been teaching. "I have my eye on this one for the desk."
"When did you take this?" Her smile became more genuine and she looked over the picture.
"Oh, maybe a year or two ago."
She laughed, "I had no idea you had this."
"Didn't you?" He said innocently. "I do add to the box once and awhile, you know."
"You do?" She raised an eyebrow.
He nodded, handing her another one. "This was when we went to Truxtan Sigma."
"Oh, I remember when you took me here." She murmured, taking the picture from him to examine it further.
"If I recall, there was a concert you'd been begging me to take you to."
"And as I recall, you ended up loving it."
He chuckled, "Only because you were there with me."
"Oh stop." She laughed softly.
"It's true."
"I don't doubt it." She smiled.
"So, what do you think then? Are these worthy of the eyes of my potential students?"
"Yes, I suppose they are." She smiled, handing the pictures back.
He took them, a third photo in his hands. It was a close-up of her face, the location and time of the photo nondescript. Her hair was down and she was giving a soft smile to something slightly off camera.
"What's that one?" She asked, noticing the third picture.
"Part of the top choices." He murmured. "Does it have your approval as well?"
"Yes, it does." She smiled softly.
"Ah, good. I only have one frame, so I'll have to rotate them. How about that shower, then?"
"Sounds lovely." She stood, taking his hand.
They washed each other off in the shower, getting their pajamas on afterward. River hesitated a bit when it came to getting re-dressed, once again bothered by the scar on her skin. The Doctor offered to re-bandage the injury.
"What's rebandaging going to do?" River murmured, "It's a scar, it's not going to heal." River had many scars on her body. She had scars from Kovarian dating from decades back. She had stretch marks from her pregnancies and old burns from when William had tried to regenerate. (Of course, this was a new body from when that had happened, but they'd agreed to replicate everything as exactly as possible.) She had other marks that even the Doctor couldn't remember what they were from, and now the new scars from what Rassilon had done to her. She had fresh burn marks still from the electro-torture, too, but they didn't carry the same weight as the one on her abdomen did.
"That's true, but I was concerned that the stitching was still sensitive."
"It's fine." She sighed, her fingers sliding over the mark one more time before covering it up with her nightgown.
"The stitching can come out in a few days if it's healing well." He reminded, though wasn't sure why since they both knew that already. She nodded, crawling into bed. He hesitated, looking towards the door. "Do you mind if I check on the kids?"
"Go ahead." She nodded. He murmured something about being quick before exiting.
He went to check on Terra first, the girl sound asleep and cuddling with Toby in her bed. The Doctor relaxed as he looked over the two. He'd had the feeling that something would be wrong, though he was starting to think it was just due to the anxiety of being separated from the kids for so long.
He went to Arthur next. Arthur was also sound asleep, nothing appearing to be wrong. The Doctor could see the space where the dog had been sleeping before moving to Terra's room. He smiled weakly at his son, moving on to the twins.
The twins' door was slightly ajar, a faint light coming from their room. Curiously, the Doctor approached and peered into the room. Amelia was sitting on her bed, reading, flashlight in hand. He broke the silence. "You should be sleeping, you know."
She jumped, looking up at him with a startled expression. "Sorry." She clicked off the light, tossing the book on the floor, "I couldn't fall asleep."
"Something wrong?"
"I miss Grandmum and Granddad." She murmured.
He moved to sit on the edge of her bed. Freya had already gone to sleep, so they kept their voices low. "You spent a long time with them."
She nodded, "Now we won't see them again."
"Perhaps not in person, no. But with the candle, you can."
"But it won't be the same."
He nodded sympathetically. "I'm afraid not, but it's all we have."
She sighed, "I know."
There was silence for a moment. "Did they ever tell you how they got stuck in New York?"
She nodded, "They told me and Freya."
Another beat of silence. "I'm sorry you're missing them, and I know I can't bring them here, but is there anything that might make you feel better?"
She shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe if we get the candle soon, that would help."
"I'll talk to your mother about it." He agreed. "We were thinking of meeting your uncle, Anthony. He's still around when we live."
She nodded, "I'd like to meet him."
He smiled at that and kissed her forehead. "Good."
"Goodnight." She whispered, now feeling like she might be able to fall asleep.
"Goodnight, little star." He murmured back. He tucked her in before leaving even though she sometimes complained she was too old for tucking in; She'd be fourteen in just a few months. She fell asleep easily, not complaining this time.
He walked back to his own bedroom feeling more at ease about the well-being of the children. When he arrived back, River was gone and the room was empty.
"River?" He called, frowning. Samantha was on the bed, looking at him with mild irritation he when said River's name. River didn't answer, his call only met with silence. His worry was returning and he moved to check the bathroom.
Though the bathroom was empty, some of the drawers were askew and there was blood on the counter and the floor. The Doctor's stomach lurched at the sight of it and he quickly ran towards the medbay, hoping River had gone there.
There was blood on the door of the medbay as well when he got there. He could see immediately that this stain was roughly in the shape a hand grabbing the doorway. He hurried inside. "River?"
She was digging through one of the drawers, blood running down her arm. He wasted no time closing the distance between them. "River, what happened? What's going on?"
"I'm fine." She shook her head, "I just knicked myself on something. I can fix it." She murmured.
He his first questions was how could she have cut herself lying in bed, but decided it to ask when later when everything was under control. "Let me help. You've got blood everywhere, let me help you."
She shook her head, "I can do it myself, it's fine." She had finally found a bandage.
"You've got one good hand and I've got two." He insisted.
"I said I'm fine!" She raised her voice this time.
He took a step back out of surprise. A drop of her blood landed on the floor, deafening in the sudden silence. After a few beats, he asked in a quieter tone, "What happened?"
She started the process of irrigating the wound, "It doesn't matter."
"Of course it matters." He whispered. She didn't respond, starting to wrap the cut. "River..." He held his breath as if to stall the next question he had, though it came out anyways. "Did you do this on purpose?"
"No! Of course not." She glared at him, "Why would I do this on purpose."
A million reasons came to mind, though he voiced none of them. "Be honest, please. What happened?"
"Why does it matter?" She shook her head.
"Because I'm concerned about you and that's a lot of blood for something 'unimportant.'"
"I didn't do it to myself." She snapped, "Isn't that enough?"
This time he did his best not to flinch, backing off finally. He still had questions, but asking them now was clearly not getting him anywhere. "You're bleeding through you bandages."
She let out something like a growl and went to get a new bandage.
"You need stitches."
"I don't need stitches, it's not that bad." She hissed.
He watched her adjust the bandage, trying to deduct what he could from the site of the cut. "It looks like... three inches. And deep." He didn't know for sure the depth, but he guessed by the level of bleeding it went down to at least the muscle. "That's stitch worthy."
"I don't think so." She muttered, "It's fine."
He sighed, "River what's wrong?"
"What's wrong is that you won't leave me alone!" She snapped.
He closed his eyes, took a breath, and opened them again with a patient and eerily kind expression. He said calmly, "Well if you have this under control, I'll be in bed."
"No! No, you don't get to take that tone with me." She hissed, eyes narrowing.
"And yelling at me is any better?" He questioned, still keeping level. "I'm trying to figure out what happened between "I'll be right back" and finding blood all over the bathroom."
"I wouldn't be snapping if you had listened to my request to be alone in the first place." She glared.
"Well by all means then, excuse my concern." He said sarcastically.
"I told you that I was handling it." She turned her back to him, going back to fixing her wound.
He instinctively wanted to reach out and touch her shoulder, but stopped himself, instead, squaring himself and going back to the room. He went to the bathroom to clean up the blood and to check around to see if there was a sign about how River had gotten hurt.
There were droplets of blood visible on the floor, leading under the bed. He followed the trail, peering under the bed. There was more blood under the bed, the most dripping from a short point on the underside of the bed frame where a piece of the mattress support had apparently cracked. He realized she must've been reaching for something and gotten snagged on the wood.
He glanced around to see what she was looking for. There was a familiar plain looking journal lodged under one of the slats, not her normal diary, but another book that the Doctor had read before. He frowned, recognizing it as the diary she'd written in when she'd been tricking King Philip. He remembered it twice, the timelines still confusing, but his real question was why she needed it and why she was keeping it in such a secretive place. Reading it, however, he was still hesitant to do. The diary looked more worn than the last time he had seen it.
He swallowed and put it back under the bed. He had a feeling the there were new entries which possibly included her feelings about his regenerating. Or other things that were much too personal to read without her permission.
The door began to creak open. He quickly moved back to the bathroom, looking like he'd been cleaning. River stepped back into the room, sitting down on the bed with a sigh. The bandage on her arm wasn't much better than before, she hadn't taken his advice and stitched it up.
He quietly emerged from the bathroom, glancing at her. Her back was to him and her head was in her unharmed hand. "River?"
"Yes?" She looked up.
"Sorry for...not listening."
She didn't answer, looking away again. He moved to get into bed, both of them silently opting for sleep.
Before he could fall asleep, the door opened again. The Doctor lifted his head to see who had opened it, or if it was just one of the pets. Terra stumbled in, followed by the dog. He sat up more properly. "[What are you doing out of bed, sweetheart?]"
"[Bad dream.]" She tried to crawl up onto the bed.
He offered a hand up, Toby staying on the floor. "[I'm sorry, dearie. What happened?]"
"[There was a monster and it ate you.]" She sniffed.
River got up and grabbed a long sleeve robe, putting it on to hide the bandage.
"[That sounds terrible.]" He sympathized. "[But I can assure you I'm just fine. No monsters are in the TARDIS.]"
Terra nodded, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back, glancing at River. River was watching silently, her wounded arm hanging limply in her lap.
Terra looked at her mother. "[You were there, too. You tried to help Daddy, but people in red robes came and took you away.]"
"[We're right here. I promise we're not going anywhere.]" River assured. Terra reached her hand out to her mother from the Doctor's arm, wanting her comfort as well. River took her daughter's hand, moving closer to her. "[Can I sleep here tonight?]" She asked.
"[Of course my love]." She nodded. Terra patted the bed for Toby to come up, too.
The dog rose, putting his paws up on the side of the bed, waiting for a further invitation from the other occupants of the bed. River hesitated, not really wanting the dog on the bed. The Doctor pointed to the floor and Toby put his paws back down. "[Toby has a doggy bed he can use.]" He explained to Terra.
"[But I want to sleep with him. I haven't seen him in a million, million years.]" She protested.
He smiled softly. "[I know, my star, but different beds have different rules. He can sleep on your bed, but on Mummy and Daddy's bed, he can't. And I promise he'll be there in the morning. He's not going anywhere for a long time]."
Toby had trotted over to his dog bed, laying down.
"[Is it because Mumma doesn't like him?]"
"[No, of course not. Mummy loves Toby.]"
Terra looked at River for confirmation.
"[I love Toby, I just don't want him in the bed because then there wouldn't be enough room for everyone.]" River explained.
Terra glanced around the bed, noting that it was a bit more crowded with her in it. "[You promise he won't go anywhere?]"
"[Promise.]" River nodded.
Terra glanced at the dog once more before nodding and setting her head down on a pillow. River gave her a light kiss on her head, laying down beside her. The three relaxed into sleep, Terra unaware of the event that had happened before she'd entered.