SPOILER warnings for season 10! From this point onwards there will be major plot points incorporated into the story. Some will come later, I'll give ya another heads up then. Enjoy!
Ch 40
Sun rays peaked through the window drapes right into the eyes of a previously sleeping woman. She groaned, sitting up and trying to block the unwelcome light. River Song looked beside her, smiling at the small little lump in the blankets beside her, her youngest daughter, Terra. The six and a half year old was still asleep, having come to sleep in her mother's room due to the lightning storm last night.
River lay back, pulling the girl close so she could hold her in her arms. Terra shifted at the movement, yawning. River hummed softly to relax the girl, closing her eyes again.
River's bedroom was the biggest of the house, complete with a walk-in closet, it's own bathroom, and huge curtained windows overlooking a flourishing back garden. On the left of her room was Terra's bedroom where an old saint Bernard was currently sleeping, and on the right, her son Arthur's, where three cats took up space on his bed.
Further down the hall was another bathroom and two more bedrooms: one for each of her eldest daughters. Downstairs there were four large rooms, which were the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, and an empty guest bedroom.
The family lived out in the countryside, away from the hustle and bustle of the cities. River had decided to move her family there after her husband passed away just over a year ago.
During the day, the children went to Bristol a few towns over for school. This was also where River worked since she'd moved. She'd been hired as a history professor at St. Luke's University.
River opened her eyes once more, knowing the children would have to get up to go to school soon. She gently shook Terra's shoulders.
The girl buried her face against her mother resistantly. River shifted, scooping her up and beginning to carry her to her room.
Terra peeked her eyes open. "[Where are we going?]" She signed.
"[Your room. It's time to get ready for school.]" She signed back.
"[I don't want to go to school.]" She frowned.
"[Do you not feel well?]" River asked, feeling her forehead to see if she had a fever.
Terra shook her head. "[No, I just don't want to.]"
"[I'm sorry, darling, but you have to. If you don't go to school, I can't go to work.]"
"[I'll come to work with you!]" She was a bit more awake now.
"[I wish you could, but little girls don't go to University. You have to go to your school so you can learn everything that a University student knows.]"
"[How can I learn uni-student things if I go to primary school?]"
"[Because uni-students learn all the things you learn in primary school first, and then, once they've learned everything, they come to Uni.]" She explained, setting Terra down on her bed and going to the girl's closet to get her clothes.
Terra nodded her understanding. "[I want to wear my flower dress today.]"
River pulled out the dress, "[This one?]"
Terra nodded again. It was a sleeveless, dark blue, corduroy dress with a big, white daisy in the middle of the chest.
"[Okay, get dressed. I'm going to wake your brother and sisters up.]" River gave her the dress, leaving the room.
Three cats slinked out of Arthur's room, moving to brush up against River's legs in the hall. River ignored the cats, knowing that they were on a tight schedule. "Arthur? It's time to get up for school." River called, knocking on the door.
The boy groaned from inside, followed by a mumbled, "I'm up."
"Okay. Get dressed and be downstairs for breakfast in 15 minutes." She called, moving onto the twins' room, doing the same for them.
Terra was the first to come to the kitchen, followed by an entourage of all their pets. River poured Terra a bowl of cereal, then fed the animals. Her other siblings made their way down as well, tired but dressed. River got them fed quickly, then moved on to making each of their lunches. After lunches were done, she checked their school bags, making sure they had everything.
By the time she was done with this, it was time to go. She shooed the children into the car. Amelia and Freya briefly argued over the front seat until Freya conceded and let Amelia have it.
River drove the children to school, quizzing Arthur on his spelling words as they drove. Once the children were at their schools, she drove the University, going straight to her office.
Across the hall from River's office was the office of the physics teacher. Word was he'd been working there longer than any other teacher in the school. She hadn't run into her office neighbor yet. Someone had told her he'd taken last year off for personal reasons. It was November now, and she occasionally saw shadows of movement from the office, but never a face.
"Oh shit..." she muttered as she sat down at her own desk, realizing that with all the commotion of getting the kids ready, she had forgotten to eat Breakfast.
Just then there was a knock on River's door.
"Come in." She called, looking through her drawers for some sort of food to eat.
The door clicked open and old man with impressive eyebrows entered with a coffee and a brown bag with scones.
She looked up, not recognizing the man, "Can I help you?"
He looked at her with soft and somehow slightly sad eyes. "You're Professor Song, right?"
"Yes, and you are?"
"Doctor Disco." He put the coffee and the scones down on her desk. "Physics teacher."
She smiled politely, "Em… Right. Nice to meet you Doctor Disco. Are these for me?" She looked at the food.
He nodded. "Isn't that what hu- what people do when they're trying to make good impressions?"
"That depends, are you trying to make a good impression?" She smiled, "Because you've succeeded. You've actually made my day. I completely forgot to grab breakfast this morning. Getting four children out of the house on time for school is not an easy task."
"Four?" He raised his eyebrows. "That's quite a number."
"I know. My husband loved children and he always wanted a big family." She kept her expression happy, but her eyes were sad.
"You say that in past tense." He said quietly.
She nodded, He passed away over a year ago. It's just me with the kids now."
"My condolences." He murmured. "I know what it can be to lose a spouse."
She shook her head, wanting to move on from the subject, finding that it made her head hurt, "I believe your office is across from mine. I've heard a great deal about you."
"Not bad things I hope?"
"It's all good things I assure you. You said you taught physics?"
"That's right." He nodded.
"My son is absolutely obsessed with physics right now. He's only nine, but he got a set on his birthday. I don't know where he got it, but it shows him how to do all sorts of basic experiments. He plays with it for hours." She stopped, not used to talking about her kids so much to someone she didn't know, "Sorry, I'm being such a mum, babbling about my kids to a stranger."
"It's fine, really. Go on." He said, trying not to sound too eager to hear about River's children.
"I shouldn't, I'm sure you have lectures to get to." River was usually a very private person and didn't talk much about her personal life to anyone at the university. Despite the odd sense of trust she felt towards this Doctor Disco person, she still held back.
"Of course." He murmured, concealing disappointment. "Em, if Ar- if your son ever wants more tools in his set or something, I'd be happy to lend him some."
"Thank you, that's very kind." She gave him another smile.
He stood there a moment longer before realizing he was doing so. "Enjoy your scones... they're blueberry, by the way."
"Thanks." She smiled softly, wondering how he could have possibly known blueberry were her favorite. He smiled back, then left back to his own office.
-x-
River spent a good portion of her lectures, as well as the time in between, thinking about the oddly familiar physics professor. As it happened, their lecture halls were also quite close together and they would sometimes catch sight of each other in the hall.
On one occasion, as they were rounding a corner, they ran right into one another.
Flustered, the Doctor started apologizing and helping River pick up her things.
"It's alright. It's my fault. I wasn't paying attention." The screen of her phone was shattered and her papers were everywhere.
"Oh bollocks, your mobile..." He carefully picked it up.
"Ugh. Hopefully, it still turns on." She took the device from him.
Worriedly, he fumbled in his pocket and handed her his own phone. "Here, take mine until you can get yours fixed."
She shook her head,"It's not that, there was a message from my daughter's school and I was just going to my office to listen to it."
"Oh... may I try?"
"Yeah, sure." She handed it to him.
He turned around for a moment and a strange whirring sound occurred before he turned back to face her. River's phone was showing the startup screen.
She took the phone in disbelief, "How did you do that?"
"Gave it a good whack." He waggled his eyebrows. "It's a physics trick."
She smiled weakly, looking less stressed than she had a moment before, "Thank you. Well… I've got to go listen to this message, but I'll see you around I suppose."
"Looking forwards to it."
She hurried to her office, going to listen to the message on her phone. It was the nurse at Terra's school who said that Terra wanted to come home because she "wasn't feeling well" though River suspected that the little girl just wanted to be home and was feeling fine. Terra had been doing this at least once a week since she'd started her new school. River had thought it would end with Terra's second school year but it was December now and the girl was still at it.
River still had one more lecture to teach in about an hour and a half. She decided to run and get Terra and the little girl would just have to sit through the last class.
Terra was very excited to get to be with River at work, holding her hand as they reentered the university. River brought Terra to her office since they still had a bit of time before the lecture.
Terra took one of the leftover scones from River's desk. Doctor Disco had a habit of bringing River scones at least once a week.
There was a knock on her slightly ajar door. It was Doctor Disco again, wielding two cuppas.
River looked up, surprised, "Hello, again."
He looked surprised as well, "I didn't realize you'd be back already."
"I just went to pick up my daughter." She pointed to the little girl.
He and Terra looked at each other, the Doctor doing his best to resist smiling too widely. "Hello, there."
Terra looked at her mother, getting up and going to hide near her. Terra tended to get nervous around people who didn't know she was deaf.
"Terra can't hear." River explained.
"Oh." He but the cups downs to free his hands. "[That's alright. I can sign.]"
Terra smiled looking excitedly up at her mother.
"[This is Doctor Disco. His office is right next to mine. He's very nice.]" River told her daughter.
"[That's a silly name.]" Terra commented.
River gave her a look, "[Be nice, Terra.]"
"[It's alright. It is a silly name, that's why most people just call me the Doctor,]" said the Doctor.
"[That's what I call my stuffie!]" She beamed.
He faltered, eyebrows raising. "[Is it?]"
"[My toy fox's name is the Doctor and he goes on adventures and saves the world with Toby.]"
"[Who's Toby?]" He remembered to ask.
"[My dog. He's this big!]" She stretched her arms as far as they could go.
"[That's very big.]" He smiled, glancing up at River. He made a gesture to the tea. "I felt bad about your mobile, so I thought this might help."
"You didn't have to do that, it was an accident."
He shrugged. "Well, then you have complete permission to dump it out if I've done it wrong."
She took a sip, humming, "It's perfect, actually."
"Good." He looked back at Terra. "[What brings you out of school so early?]"
She just remembered that she was supposed to be sick, "[I'm sick.]"
He raised an eyebrow. "[Is that so?]"
She nodded.
"[That is a shame since I was going to offer you a lolly, but I wouldn't want to make you sicker.]"
Her eyes grew wide, "[It won't make me sicker! I'm feeling better now!]"
He chuckled, pulling the treat from his pocket. "[If you say so.]"
She beamed, opening it up so she could snack on it immediately.
"[Are you helping your mummy teach her next class?]"
She giggled, finding the idea of someone her age teaching "grown-ups" rather amusing, "[No, silly! Mummy said I have to be quiet and color in my book while she teaches.]"
"[Well, you're always welcome to help me teach my class if you get bored.]"
"[Really? Do you teach big kids too?]" Her eyes lit up, but behind her, River shifted uncomfortably.
"[Yes, I teach big kids.]" He nodded.
"[I want to help today!]"
He was starting to notice River's unease. "[Why don't you ask your mother?]"
Terra looked up hopefully at her mother.
"[I'm sorry, love, but not today.]"
"[Why not?]" She frowned.
"[Because we've only just met Doctor Disco and we don't really know him. Do you remember my rule? No going off with people you don't know.]" River reminded.
"[Oh... Right.]" Terra nodded, both of them missing the Doctor tensing.
"[We should get to my lecture hall.]" River started to gather her things.
"[It was lovely to meet you, Terra.]" The Doctor signed.
"[Can you come to our house for a play date? Then you won't be a stranger and Mummy will let me help you!]" She asked, looking hopeful once more.
He chuckled. "[It's a lovely thought but I think it's a long way down the line.]"
She pouted but didn't protest, waving bye as her mother ushered her off to lecture.
The Doctor left back to his office again. It was bigger than River's and quite well used. There were shelves full of worn books, some of them in strange languages. The side of the room opposite to the shelves held a huge, blue police box with an out-of-order sign on the front door. On his desk sat trinkets, a small raven sculpture, and two photographs, one of them of the face of the woman whose office was across the hall.