Ch 101
The days passed into weeks and the Songs got back into routines both new and old. Maternity leave for the Doctor and River meant a lot of time in the house with the baby. Felix wasn't nearly as fussy as any of his siblings were at his age. His parents found, to their pleasant surprise, that things like bathtime and naptime were not met with much resistance at all. It made them a little more open to activities like visitors or going out— that, and there wasn't much else to do since Felix couldn't travel much yet.
Time brought peace for once. Time brought healing. Time brought plans for holidays months before they happened. Time brought driving lessons for the twins, both in the car and in the TARDIS. Time brought sleepovers and family dinners and chilly nights curled up by the fireplace long after the kids had gone to bed. It couldn't dissipate the thoughts and worries of the future, though. The Doctor knew there were temporal obligations. He would have to go back to Executioner's Planet and save Missy eventually. He knew there was a crack in time somewhere waiting for him with a life they never lived waiting on the other side. He wondered if it would be soon.
The peace was a welcome change. River especially was thankful for the new found calm in their lives. Old scars began to heal. Felix helped them heal from the loss on Gallifrey and every time she saw his sweet face, River couldn't help but feel a bit of gratitude towards the Mad Time Woman who had most certainly saved his life. She too, knew that the Doctor would one day have to return to the Executioner's planet to save Missy, though she tried her best not to think about it.
Felix's first trip in the TARDIS was that November when he was three months old. It was a simple trip, of course. A quick jump to Cardiff to see Jack. (They'd been using the car all autumn.) They let Freya fly the TARDIS there on the compromise that Amelia could fly back.
"Look at you! First real trip in the TARDIS." River touched the baby's cheek, who was contently nestled in the Doctor's arms. Felix gurgled a bit and grabbed at River's finger with intrigue.
"First spatial trip in the TARDIS," the Doctor added warmly. "No time jumps yet."
"If all goes well with this one, maybe we can take him to Vastra's in a couple weeks." River smiled back at him.
"Maybe," he echoed. Vastra and Jack had been arguing over who's house to host Christmas at this year and Jack's main argument had been that Felix wasn't old enough to go to Vastra's yet. "She'd be thrilled at that, I'm sure."
"Yes, I'm sure she will."
Terra came up to her parents looking a bit chuffed. "[How come Freya gets to fly the TARDIS?]"
"[Because she's old enough to fly it on her own now.]" River responded.
"[I want to fly her on my own. Aren't I old enough?]"
"[Not yet, sweetie. When you're Freya and Amelia's age.]"
"[That's not until forever.]"
"[I promise it'll come faster than you think.]"
Terra didn't look like she believed River, but didn't argue further. "[Can I show Felix the Hub? He's never been there before.]"
River nodded, "[Of course you can.]"
"It'll give them something to do while we talk to Jack," the Doctor murmured. Jack had wanted them to come over not only to see the kids but also to consult on some alien tech he'd found.
The kids gave Jack their usual series of bear-hugs upon arriving while the adults stayed a safe distance away from the tackle with the baby. The kids were quite excited to see their uncle, immediately all talking at once. It took a few minutes to get everyone to take turns.
River and the Doctor decided to slip over to new tech while Jack was occupying the children, knowing they could say their hello's later. River frowned as she examined the object that Jack had laid out on the table.
"Do you recognize the planet?" The Doctor asked, shifting Felix to one arm.
She shook her head, "Not really, it actually looks like a mix from quite a few places."
He poked at the thing with his free hand. It was about the size of a house cat and looked twice as heavy. Aside from its shape, its function was almost impossible to decipher. It looked like a Frankenstein-ish mass of metal plating, wires, and gears in a few places. "I think this part is from Bizanfalla... but this bit looks like it was made on Luecinne. Those are on opposite sides of the universe from each other."
"Hmm...that's odd." River murmured.
Between the two of them, they identified almost twenty different origin planets before Jack came down with the rest of the children following in tow.
"Did you want to give Felix a tour of the Hub?" River asked the kids.
Terra nodded, looking to her siblings to see if they wanted to as well. The others seemed a little more interested in the device on the table.
"What's that?" Arthur asked.
River hesitated, "We're not quite sure yet, we're trying to figure it out."
"Oh. Can we help?" he asked hopefully.
River glanced at her husband, "Well..."
"Maybe..." the Doctor started. "We haven't determined what it is yet, so I'd like for you to wait for us to see if it's safe."
The kids were about to protest, until their Uncle stepped in and suggested they check out some of the new Torchwood gadgets that were in his office. Amelia took Felix to bring with them so their parents had the room to work.
"So, what have you figured out so far?" River turned to Jack.
"Next to nothing," Jack sighed. "It came through the Rift active but shut down by the time we got to it. I've been trying to get it working but it doesn't seem to run on electricity, so I have no idea how to turn it back on. Don't know if it's a weapon, a lost satellite, or some kind of homing box. None of my scans have been able to see inside it—if there's an inside to be seen."
"We could try running the TARDIS scanner on it, though we'd have to put some safety blocks in first." River suggested.
"That could work," the Doctor grinned at her and glanced back at Jack. "If you think whatever is inside is worth investigating, then we'll do it."
"I'd be interested in having a look inside."
The Doctor and River got to work, one of them setting up the blocks on the TARDIS and the other pulling out wires from beneath the console to attach to the device.
While they did this, Terra and Freya wandered back downstairs, taking more interest in the investigation than in the toys Jack had upstairs. The kids were allowed to watch their parents work so long as they promised not to interfere.
"Are you sure you've wired it right?" River asked the Doctor.
"There aren't exactly portholes in this thing," the Doctor frowned at the device. Because of the inconsistent structure, he'd ended up attaching unprotected wires and clips and any place that seemed like an entry point.
"What about that?" River asked, pointed to what looked like another opening.
The Doctor hesitated. Terra piped up helpfully, having been watching the debate. "[Daddy got shocked when he tried to put the wire in that one and he's too afraid to try again.]"
River couldn't help but laugh, "Is that true?"
"I'm not afraid to try again," the Doctor huffed. "I just, er, haven't gotten around to it."
"Hmm, I see." River crossed her arms, not looking convinced.
He squirmed under her gaze. "Right I'll, um, take care of that one."
"I can do it if you're too scared." She offered, holding out her hand.
"[Can I do it?]" Terra asked.
"[I'd rather you not.]" River shook her head, taking the wire. The Doctor didn't argue, letting.
Terra looked closely, quite interested. River stuck the wire in, immediately swearing and jumping back when she got shocked. Terra tried not to giggle at her mother's reaction, though the Doctor didn't hold back an 'I-told-you-so' look of smugness.
"Oh, stop with that face." River grumbled to her husband.
"What face?" he asked innocently.
"That 'I-told-you-so' face." She pouted.
He grinned. "Bothering you, is it?"
"Yes...are you going to fix that?" She challenged.
"Now, I'm not sure," He pretended to look thoughtful. "You might have to fix it for me."
"Alright then." She smiled, taking handfuls of his shirt and hauling him against her. The Doctor's hands found her waist easily as he steadied himself against her.
Terra stuck her tongue out and scurried to the other side of the console to hide from the scene of affection. Freya took Terra's hand and held her out of the ship.
Eventually, River and the Doctor stopped for breath. The Doctor chuckled lightly realizing they'd scared the kids off.
"Maybe we should come back to this in a minute. I don't think I'm quite finished with you yet." River grinned.
"I think I'd be disappointed if you were," the Doctor hummed and glanced at the elusive device. "At least the wire stayed in the port this time. It fell back out when I tried to do it."
River hummed, not paying much mind to the device anymore, trying to get her husband's attention again by kissing his jaw. He gave in easily to the distraction, however, they were only granted a few minutes before Jack interrupted by burst into the console room bearing a whining Felix in his arms.
River jumped when Jack burst in, having already undone quite a few buttons on the Doctor's shirt. Jack didn't comment, though allowed his eyes to linger on the Doctor longer than necessary, making the Timelord blush and fluster to do his buttons back up. "Felix is getting fussy."
"What's wrong my love." River murmured, going to take the baby, adding to Jack, "Don't think I didn't see you eyeing up my husband."
"I think he needs changing," Jack grinned. "And so does Felix."
"Cheeky." River laughed, "I'll go change the baby. While I'm gone, don't do anything I would do."
"That doesn't put very strong limitations on me, River," he teased, hading Felix over.
"Just keep your hands off my husband." She took the baby, leaving the two men alone.
All the other children were in the console room when River came back, gathered in an excited hum around the device.
"What have I missed?"
"Dad said he was gonna turn it on and we want to see!" Arthur supplied.
"Ah, I see. Perhaps you should all take a few steps back, we don't know what exactly it is."
Arthur relayed the information to Terra and the four kids moved back.
The Doctor has stationed himself at the controls and Jack near the emergency shut off. "Right, everyone. Shall we have a look?"
The children all nodded in excitement. River nodded as well, though made sure to hold the baby a safe distance away. The Doctor started up the scanners.
Each place where a wire met the device started to glow and information started pouring into the monitors. Various lights blinked on and off on the device as more and more information poured out, flashing on the monitor too fast to read.
Panels on the device hissed and started to flap open and closed, releasing steam and a strange pulsing noise. The flapping panels and blinking lights cames at faster and faster rates until the whole device was rocking in its place on the console.
It was a long moment before it suddenly went still again as if deactivated.
They all peered tentatively closer when suddenly the device let out a skull-splitting screech.
All but Terra were brought to their knees, hands flying to cover their ears. The glass of the central column on the console cracked as did the screens of the monitors.
Realizing that she was the only one not incapacitated by whatever was going on, Terra quickly ran over to her Uncle, pushing the emergency stop button. The noise stopped abruptly and Terra quickly looked at her parents to see if they were okay.
Since River had been holding the baby, she had been unable to cover her ears and instead, chose to cover Felix's ears with her one free hand. Felix was wailing despite River's protection.
Everyone stumbled back to their feet trying to reorient themselves. "What was that?" Amelia asked.
"[I turned it off!]" Terra stated proudly.
River was the only one who didn't stand, still trying to recover from the noise. Jack patted Terra's head in acknowledgment as the Doctor went over to his wife. The Doctor gently took a still crying Felix in one arm and put his other hand one River's shoulder. "Riv?"
"My head..." She groaned, nearly collapsing onto him.
He glanced worriedly at Jack. "Make sure that thing is stable and deactivated and meet us in the medbay. Freya?"
"Yeah?" Freya hurried over.
He handed the baby over to her so he had the hands to help River. "Take Felix and the rest of your siblings to the medbay. We'll be right there."
She nodded, Amelia also helping to get the younger kids to the medbay. He turned his attention back to River as Jack worked on the device. "You didn't cover your ears."
"Felix..." She groaned, her eyes still pressed shut.
He hummed his understanding. "Can you stand?"
River didn't answer.
He frowned with concern "Jack? I need help."
Jack came over quickly, "What do you need?"
"I don't think River can stand... I need help getting her to the medbay."
Jack nodded, going to help River up onto her feet. Between the two of them, they managed to support River and bring her to the medbay where the children were waiting.