Ch 87
River led her youngest daughter to the living room, going to retrieve her blue box of photos. One of the cats slinked onto the sofa as they settled down with the box and started to sift through them.
"[Would you mind if we put this one up?]" River asked, holding up a photo that Amelia had taken. It was of River, the Doctor, and Terra.
Terra stared at the toothy smile of her younger self in the picture. She seemed a little surprised then when River had said 'pictures of the whole family,' that she was included in that definition. "[What if Felix doesn't like it?]"
"[I don't think that will be a problem.]" River assured.
"[Okay...]" She looked unconvinced.
River put the picture aside, "[Let's find ones of Uncle Jack and Aunt Vastra too.]"
Terra looked towards the kitchen where Jack and Vastra were trying to cooperate on cooking methods. The Doctor had joined them, ironing out the usual disagreements that tended to pop up when Vastra and Jack were left alone in a room. It looked like Vastra and Jack were starting to get in an argument at the moment, bickering about something that was unclear from the place Terra was sitting.
A moment later, the Doctor poked his head into the living room. "Riv?"
"Hmm?" River looked up, "Is everything alright?"
"How do you feel about ordering out?" He offered a polite smile which meant whatever food there was being made had gone belly up.
"That's fine." She smiled weakly, "Do you need me to come intervene?" She could hear the growing argument from where she was sitting.
"Er, I think it might be best to leave them to it on this one." He made his way to the couch. "[What are you two up to?]"
"[We're looking at pictures.]" Terra replied.
"[To put in Felix's room.]" River added.
He smiled at the picture they'd already pulled out. "[Mind if I sit with you?]"
"Of course not." River smiled, leaning in to kiss him. Terra electively ignored them as they kissed over her head, pulling out a photo from a few Christmases ago.
River looked down at the picture, "[Do you like that one?]" Terra nodded silently. It included not only the whole family but all of their friends as well. "[Do you want that to go in Felix's room too?]"
She nodded again.
River smiled, '[Do you remember when we took this picture?]"
"[It was my idea.]"
"[Yes, you're right and it was a very good one.]"
Jack and Vastra came into the room at that moment. Jack looked a bit like a kicked dog and Vastra looked a bit like a satisfied cat.
"Have you two finished?" River raised an eyebrow.
Vastra nodded with her usual, elegant demeanor that nothing had been wrong in the first place.
"[I thought they were cooking?]" Terra frowned.
"[We're going to order take away instead.]" River informed her.
"[Can we have chicken nuggets?]"
"[If you'd like.]"
The Doctor squeezed his wife's hand. "Felix asleep?"
"Yeah. I've got the baby monitor on."
Arthur came downstairs with a slight pout, finding a seat among everyone. "What's wrong, Arthur?" River asked.
"Mia and Freya said they had to talk about stuff and wouldn't let me hang out with them."
River's jaw tightened as she glanced at her husband. "Don't worry about them, lovie." The Doctor downplayed, knowing very well what the twins were discussing. "Now you can spend time with us."
Arthur forgot about his exclusion quickly as the conversation moved on. The Doctor looked worriedly at his wife, reading her easily.
Vastra noticed River's demeanor as well, "[Arthur and Terra, would you two like to help me with something very special in the TARDIS? Jack can come with us.]" She nudged the man beside her so he'd go along with it.
The children looked intrigued. "[What is it?]"
"[It's a surprise, you'll have to come see for yourself.]" She didn't exactly have a plan, but she could see River and the Doctor needed a moment alone and figured she could come up with something to distract the children. The two got up and followed Vastra excitedly.
River kept her eyes on the floor as the others left.
"River?" The Doctor spoke softly.
"Yeah?" She looked over at him.
"Are you alright?"
She shrugged. They had expected Freya to tell her sister everything, but the full realization that half their children knew what had truly happened was hard to swallow.
"What can I do?"
"I don't know." She sighed.
He quietly pulled her into his arms. She leaned into him, starting to cry. He stroked her back, murmuring to her to help her calm down. "I'm sorry." She sniffed, "I shouldn't be crying."
"It's alright." He assured. "We're still adjusting, everything's not going to be fine all the time."
"I know." She nodded, trying to brush away the tears, "I don't want the kids to know everything that happened."
"I know my love." He knew the twins wouldn't tell Arthur or Terra, but couldn't help but wonder if this situation might ever repeat itself. The two of them had incredibly long, messy pasts, and the older the children got, the more they seemed to uncover. "But they're growing up fast. We can't hide everything forever."
"I don't care how old they are, I don't want them to know." She shook her head.
He nodded, though knew that they couldn't keep back everything. There were libraries full of books on the both of them, and erasing a universe full of information on someone as big as them was almost impossible, he'd tried it before.
She held tightly onto him, trying to keep her sniffs to a minimum. "I'm sorry."
"It's alright to feel this way." He continued to sooth. "It's alright."
"My hormones are still out of balance," she tried to dismiss, resting her head against his shoulder.
"We did have to lower your dose," he reminded, taking her hand. "But that doesn't discount what you feel."
"What's going to happen now? The kids are supposed to start school tomorrow and you and I were supposed to go back to work..."
"Well, we're entitled to a maternity leave," he thought. "The kids can still go to school... but we can ask them if they want to wait for a little longer."
She squeezed his hand, "How long are you going to stay out of work?"
"At least until Christmas, maybe more if we need." They'd agreed before Felix was born that after their leave, the Doctor would only teach twice a week so Felix wouldn't ever be without one of his parents.
She nodded, putting a hand to her sore side, "It still feels like it was just a nightmare."
Amelia started to come downstairs. "Mum?"
River's whole body tensed, "Yes?"
She came up to them looking uncertain. "Um... you know...?" she hesitated, "You know when Arthur was born?" River nodded, waiting for her daughter to continue. "You're not, er—nothing like that's going to happen again, is it? You and Felix... are alright?" Amelia tugged nervously on her fingers.
River shook her head, "No, it won't. We're fine."
"Do you promise?" She searched her mum's face.
"I promise that there isn't anything wrong at the moment. We did scans of Felix and he looks just fine."
"And you?" She looked at the big white bandage on River's head.
"I'm going to be fine too. How much did Freya tell you?"
Amelia looked at the floor guiltily. "Er, everything, I think."
River nodded slowly, "We asked her not to say anything."
"Yeah but.. we don't keep secrets from each other. "
River sighed, putting her head in her hands. The Doctor rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. "And I presume your sister mentioned she was grounded for a while?"
Amelia nodded slowly, "Yeah...she didn't say how long though."
"Two months," he murmured. "And there will be similar consequences if you tell any of your siblings what you heard."
She nodded vigorously, "I won't tell them, I promise."
"Good." He paused. "Amelia, why did you lie to us about where your sister was when we called?"
"She asked me to."
He sighed. "I appreciate the relationship you two have, my love, but you understand what your mother and I went through to find her? We couldn't find her for a while, and when we did she was in the middle of danger." He explained. "Please, don't ever keep something like that from us again."
"She was supposed to just come talk to you."
"Even so, I'd like you to promise us that."
"I promise it won't happen again."
"Good." He relaxed some.
River squeezed his hand. He squeezed back and offered a weak smile as Felix started whining upstairs. "I'll go get him." River murmured.
Upstairs, Freya had poked her head into the hallway in response to her upset brother, wondering if she should help with anything. River didn't seem to notice, going straight passed her to the baby's room.
Felix was crying in his crib. He wasn't very loud since his lungs were still quite new— it sounded more like mewling. "It's okay." River hushed, lifting him up gently, "It's alright, sweetie."
Felix flailed slightly until he was settled in his mother's arms. River hushed him softly, rocking him back and forth. "What's wrong, my love?"
He whimpered, communicating the need for food through their connection. "Okay, we need to go get the bottles from downstairs." She murmured, carrying him out of the room.
Freya dashed back to her room when she realized River was coming back into the hall, trying to look like she hadn't been watching. River frowned slightly having seen the movement, "Freya..."
"Yeah?" She poked her head back out.
"I know you told Amelia, and I'm going to ask that you don't tell Arthur or Terra anything. I really don't want them to know."
Freya looked a bit guilty. "I know... I wasn't going to say anything to them."
"Thank you."
She glanced at the fussing baby. "Is he okay?"
"He's fine." River assured, "Just hungry."
Freya followed downstairs. "Where's Terra and Arthur, anyways?"
"They're with Jack and Vastra in the TARDIS." River murmured.
"Oh," was all she said in response.
Felix got a little louder with his impatience. "Okay, sweetie, okay." River soothed, moving as best she could to the kitchen.
Freya frowned slightly as she watched her mother move with bodily resistance. "Mum, are you still in pain?"
"A bit." She confessed, knowing Freya would be upset if she lied, "It's pretty normal to be sore after having a baby."
"Does that mean you still have to rest like you were doing on the TARDIS?"
"Yes. Taking a break every once and a while is nice, but it's hard to find the time."
"Um, I can help feed him if you need." She offered.
"That's very kind of you to offer, but you don't have to do that. I can manage." River didn't want her daughter to feel like she needed to take responsibility for the baby.
Freya nodded as Felix latched onto the bottle nub and quieted down. "There you go." River hummed softly, "See? There's no reason to cry." Felix blinked up at her, no evidence of his earlier upset on his face.
"Do I still go to school tomorrow?"
"Your Father and I were just talking about that. We were going to let you decide."
"I kind of still want to go." She murmured. There was nothing much for her to do at home since most of her electronics now had parental controls activated.
"Okay, that's fine." River nodded, "Maybe you can convince your siblings to go as well." It would certainly be easier on River and the Doctor if all of their children decided to go to school tomorrow.
"Amelia will probably come." Freya thought aloud.
"I agree, it's Arthur and Terra I'm worried about." River murmured.
-x-
"No I don't know what's wrong with her." River huffed into the phone to her husband who was at a luncheon for the physics department. "Can you please just come home? She won't talk to me."
"I'll be there in a minute," the Doctor promised. A minute really did mean one minute when one traveled with a time machine. He stepped out of the blue box when it materialized, "Where is she?"
"She's in her room. She locked me out." River looked exhausted—five months pregnant and fighting with a nine year old wasn't exactly the best combination."We're removing those locks by the way, I don't know why there are locks on her door in the first place."
It had actually been River's insistence to put locks on the doors when Missy had shown up in their lives again, but he wisely didn't comment on that. Instead, he kissed her cheek and said, "I'll take care of it, darling."
"Thank you." She sighed, relaxing just a bit, "I tried everything, but she wouldn't talk to me."
He glanced toward the stairs. "She didn't give any hint?"
"It's something about the baby again." She avoided his eyes.
"What were you talking about before she got upset?" he asked gently.
"I was talking to her about the upcoming school year and all of a sudden she got upset because I told her we were going to stay home with the baby." She sighed, feeling the distress of this situation all over again.
"Hey." He cupped her cheek. "I'll go talk to her. I'm sure this will blow over."
"I know." She nodded, "I wish she wasn't so upset about all of this."
"She'll come around when the baby comes." He assured.
"I hope you're right." River sighed, letting him go try and figure out what was going on with their daughter.
-x-
"I still don't know how Terra feels about the baby." River said to her oldest daughter.
"She still doesn't want him?" Freya asked.
"I don't think so. There are moments where she seems to be alright with it and then she gets upset again."
"Well, she'll have to get used to him eventually." Freya pointed out.
"I know, but I hate seeing her upset. I hate seeing any of you upset."
Freya shrugged and wisely didn't mention being upset over being grounded. "He's pretty happy." She gestured to her brother.
River smiled weakly, "Yes, though it doesn't take much to make him happy."
"We'll all be fine, mum." Freya murmured. "Just need to stick out the rough bits."
"I'm sure you're right."