[A/N: Sorry for the wait! As I mentioned before, I and the writing buddy have been very busy and have not had time to make more content. You should expect some more waiting (sorry) but I'm hoping that we'll both have more time during the holiday season to write? We'll see. ]

Ch 103

In between the stacks of books, River lay on the floor, head pounding. Her body felt numb, though the few bits that she could feel hurt like hell. She couldn't remember what had happened, or where she was, but the urge to stay awake was fading fast. If she could just close her eyes for a few minutes maybe this feeling would pass. She could feel her lid grow heavy, the pain starting to melt away as the rest of her body joined the engulfing numbness.

The Doctor's scanner started beeping as the lifeform started to fade from the screen. His hearts were pounding as he desperately looked around and finally spotted the unmistakable head of curls that belonged to his wife.

"Mum!" Freya cried, running past the Doctor, forgetting her promise at the sight of her mother.

Both of them where at River's side in record time, the Doctor feeling for River's pulse. "River, can you hear me? River?"

She didn't respond to him.

Freya was distraught, crying and begging the Doctor, "Dad, fix her. Please! Fix her."

"Get Jack!" He ordered, starting chest compressions. "Get him now!"

"No!" Freya wasn't going to leave until she knew her mother would be alright, "Why can't you just use your regeneration energy to fix her?"

"I'm not using it until I've exhausted all other resources," he said between breaths. He finished the round of compressions and pushed two breaths of air into River's lungs with his own before resuming compressions again. "It's what she wants. Now get Jack or get a defibrillator."

Freya shook her head, trying to focus all her strength on bringing energy to her hands, feeling them slowly start to warm. The Doctor looked up at the light, eyes widening. "Freya, no. Stop that right now!"

"If you're not going to help her, then I will." She was still trying hard to get the energy going, her distraught state making it hard to concentrate.

The Doctor took Freya's hands, putting out the dim glow that had started. Not a second later did his own hands start glowing, brighter and more controlled than Freya's.

Freya watched, eyes going to her mother lay still as stone. The Doctor pressed his glowing palms over River's hearts, willing the energy to flow into her. The light slowly began to work through River's body, the color returning to her skin, her cheeks becoming flushed once more.

Freya watched wide-eyed, sniffling as the light danced around River.

River's eyes opened slowly, "Doctor..." She groaned.

"River," he breathed, cupping her cheeks. "Are you alright?"

"So...sore..." She breathed, sore being quite the understatement.

"Your clothes are different. Do you remember what happened?"

"No..." She looked up at him, his image still a bit fuzzy, "What happened?"

"You were dead!" Freya burst out, still trying to control her emotions. "There was a thing in the console room and it was going to hurt dad and I shot at it but you were gone and we couldn't find you and you almost died!" She had to stop for breath at that.

"What?" River frowned, trying to process what her daughter had blurted out. Her mind was still in a haze.

"One thing at a time Freya," the Doctor murmured. "Can you stand?"

"I don't know. I don't think so." She replied honestly for once.

Gently, he tried to help River to her feet, keeping an arm securely around her.

"Where is everyone? How did we get in here?" River finally realized they were in the library.

"The TARDIS showed there was a life form in here, we thought it might be you." They started back for the medbay. "Jack's got everyone in a safe room."

She frowned, "I don't remember coming to the library."

"Do you remember changing either?" He knew the answer was probably no. The black gown that covered her didn't look like anything she owned on the ship.

Logically, there shouldn't have been enough time for her to change and get to the library between the time the Doctor left and the time they found her. Clearly something more than a quick stroll had happened. The injuries she'd had weren't life-threatening before, so something—or rather someone—had to have caused enough damage to nearly kill her.

She shook her head, "The last thing I remember is you and Terra leaving the medbay."

"It's no coincidence that that creature turned up at the same time you disappeared."

They arrived at the medbay and the Doctor helped her get situated on the exam table. "River, I think you were gone for longer than you think."

"Can you do a scan of my previous injuries?" She asked, hoping that would reveal something.

He nodded, setting the scanners up. Freya sat down near the exam table, trying to stay out of the way for now. Once the scan was done, the complete list of injuries appeared on the screen.

The Doctor watched the list, taking in the information as calmly as possible. "This is... extensive."

River stared at the list, a bit in shock, "You're so calm..."

He glanced at their daughter before meeting River's eyes, his own shining with clear concern. He didn't want to panic in front of Freya, not after the shock of finding River in the state she was.

"I'll go find the others." Freya offered, noticing her parents need to be alone. As much as she wanted to stay by her mother's side after what she had just witnessed, she also knew that her parents needed to figure out what had happened, but they wouldn't talk about it with her in the room.

The Doctor looked over at Freya. "Er, yes. Alright. Do you need anything?"

She shook her head slowly, still trying to process the events of the last twenty minutes. She stood, going to leave the room. He stopped her by the shoulder, turned her around, and pulled her into a hug. She hugged him back tightly, sniffling.

"You were very brave today," he hummed in a soothing manner. "It wasn't easy, but you were brave."

She nodded, "Thank you for saving her."

"I wouldn't have let her die, I promise you that," he assured. "We're going to figure this all out."

Freya nodded, finally letting go and leaving the room.

The Doctor turned slowly back to River, scrubbing a hand over his face. He wasn't trying to hide the exhaustion and worry anymore, giving her a troubled look. "High-velocity blunt force trauma, massive intake of toxins intravenous and inhaled, contralateral pneumothorax from broken ribs, and..." he glanced at the injury report, "a forced vascular wall break down from misuse of positron emission tomography leading to an obstructive shock of your hearts. Just to start." A part of him was glad River couldn't remember this happening. "It looks like they were studying you along with...everything else," he made a vague gesture, not wanting out outright say the word 'torture'.

"But we don't know who they are. And we don't know what they figured out. And why would they bring me back here?"

"That's a good question," he murmured, sitting down next to her. "It could mean they weren't interested in killing you—perhaps a warning to the rest of us? They could have gotten what they wanted and dumped you back here or maybe you just escaped on your own."

"Do you think they know about the kids?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "We should assume that they do."

"So how are we going to keep them safe?"

"The TARDIS should be fine. They only got in because the door was unlocked and the tech they used to knock out the consol arrays was patchwork."

She sighed, trying to stand up. "Let me help you. You're still going to be adjusting from the regeneration."

River let him support her. Together they went to find the kids.

"Are you alright?" River asked as they walked.

"Worried," he murmured, looking at the ground.

She hummed softly, "Me too."

"I was so afraid when you were missing," he admitted quietly. "I thought... I don't know what I thought."

She stopped walking, pulling him into a tight hug, just as he had done for Freya. He seemed slightly caught off-guard but quickly melted into her embrace. "I don't know what I'd do if—"

"I know..." She breathed, not needing him to finish the sentence.

He leaned his head down and pressed his lips to hers. She pressed her forehead to his, closing her eyes. Neither of them needed to say anything, just holding each other for a long moment.

When they finally moved on they walked slowly. The Doctor filled River in more about what had happened, what the creature looked like, and Freya's use of her gun. Though the topic was serious, his tone remained level as he spoke. River listened, trying to absorb and process all the information he told her. The description of the creature didn't trigger any memories for her.

All the children were sitting inside the safe room along with Jack. All of them looked up when the two Time Lords entered. Terra got up and immediately wrapped herself around River's legs. "[You're back!]"

River smiled weakly, reaching down to hug Terra. Jack rose, Felix in his arms. The baby seemed to have fallen asleep, unbothered by the absence of his parents.

"How was he?" River still asked, reaching for the baby.

"Not fussy at all," Jack handed Felix over. "Though I'm sure he'll be hungry soon."

"Did anything happen while we were gone?" River looked around the room like she might find evidence of a fight.

Jack shook his head.

Arthur and Freya were watching the telly the TARDIS had provided and Amelia was standing up to greet her parents. "Is it true?" Amelia asked. "Is there really something trying to take mum away?"

River sighed , having figured that Freya would tell Amelia about what had happened, "I don't know if trying is the right word for it… We're not exactly sure what's going on right now."

"Can we help?" she asked hopefully.

"Not extensively, I want to know what we're dealing with before you get too involved." River shook her head. After seeing the list of injuries she had attained, she did not want her children getting near this danger.

"Does that mean we have to stay in this room?" Amelia frowned slightly.

"That would be appreciated. Just until we have a better understanding of what's going on." River looked to her husband to back her up.

"We can make the TARDIS secure so you don't have to stay in this room if you don't want to," he added. "But yes. We don't want any of you to leave the TARDIS until we can figure this out. Whatever is going on, we're up against something powerful and very, very dangerous."

Amelia nodded, understanding the severity of the situation. Terra had been watching the mouths moving above her, unable to pick up more than a few words here and there. "[You can hear again?]"

River nodded, "[The swelling in my head went down.]"

"[I thought dad said it would take days?]"

"[We were wrong. The swelling wasn't as bad as we thought.]" River tried to excuse.

"[Oh.]" Terra didn't question this.

Felix started to stir, whining for food. "I should go feed him." River murmured, rocking the baby. The Doctor brought the kids back over to the telly so River could find some privacy.

The Doctor pulled Jack aside to start discussing a plan about the threat.

"Do you have any ideas so far?" Jack asked.

"Lots," he nodded. There was a blackboard in the corner which the Doctor directed them over to and started to write.