Where Romana makes a new friend.

Another slightly shorter one, sort of part 2 of the last chapter. Don't worry, the rest of the chapters will be longer :)

'Is it just me,' Romana wanted to know and turned from the window to look at her assistant, 'or is there something in the Matrix that shouldn't be there?'

'I'm not sure what you mean, Lady Romana?'

Realising that the young man couldn't feel the anomaly she had detected, she shook her head and waved him off. 'Never you mind.' Hesitating for a moment, she reached for a stack of papers on her desk and handed them to him. 'Drop these off with the Council administration, will you? And then go home, I won't need your assistance anymore today.'

'Of course, Lady Romana.'

Once he had slipped out of the room, Romana sunk into her chair and rubbed her temples. Being President had never been an easy task, but now that she was back in office, after the Time War and Rassilon, it was worse than ever. It wasn't even that half her people didn't trust her, associating her with the Doctor still after all these years, nevermind that it had been three regenerations since she had last seen him - more for him, or her, if the rumours were true. It wasn't the rebuilding of state and country, now that the war was over and peace was reigning again. But dealing with a sceptic council and completing the day to day work of the President on top of those additional tasks, that was draining.

And there was one other matter that she hadn't dared broach to the council yet, a matter so grave that she wasn't sure she herself believed it yet.

But for now, she would focus on the more immediate problem, the anomaly in the matrix. Because there was something there, something - someone, perhaps - that shouldn't be there. Focusing her thoughts on it, Romana closed her eyes and let herself slip into the surface layers of the matrix.

Around her, memories and thoughts were whirling, but her attention was immediately drawn to what was undoubtedly the anomaly. Romana gasped and the shadow whipped around.

'It's you,' she whispered, eyes wide. So she hadn't been mistaken. But this wasn't possible, it was, in fact, completely impossible. And yet, right there in front of her stood a woman she had only met once and still would never forget. She was shimmering and out of focus, as if her body, the corporal form, was a fading memory she was desperately trying but failing to retain. Her face was blank as she stared at Romana without recognition.

'Me? Who is me? Who are you?' She wanted to know and even though she didn't see her lips move, Romana heard her words. Carefully, she moved closer - it was all about thought in the Matrix, walking was such a physical thing to do.

'I'm President Romana of Gallifrey,' she introduced herself, then smiled. 'And you're Patience.'

The woman frowned and shook her head. 'No, I'm not.'

'Yes, you are,' Romana insisted. 'I've met you before. You're the Doctor's wife.'

At that, she smiled. 'That's more like it, me. The woman who married the Doctor.' For a moment, she looked thoughtful. 'I can't remember having met you before, Lady Romana. One would think I'd remember you - it's all coming back now, living, dying - but no, we've certainly not met before.'

Now, it was Romana's turn to frown. 'But you didn't die. You just up and disappeared one day and no one knew what happened or where you'd gone to. And we met - just a few weeks back!'

The woman shrugged. 'Maybe it hasn't happened for me yet. You know, timey wimey? But I died, so I'm not sure how that'd work…'

'If you were dead, you wouldn't be here and talking to me,' Romana pointed out, which made the woman's frown deepen.

'Well, where exactly is here, then?'

'The Matrix, of course.' How could the Doctor's wife possibly have ended up in the Matrix without knowing it? From what Romana had heard of her, she was more than formidable but judging by the look of disbelief on her face, she wasn't quite so sure anymore.

'The Matrix. As in, the Matrix on Gallifrey?'

'I wasn't aware that there's another one somewhere else.'

'Oh, this is brilliant!' A delighted grin spread across her face. 'I should have recognised it, I've been stuck in here before - but really, it was quite different then - I was different. I still had a body, you know?'

'And you don't have one now?' How odd. The Patience Romana had met had been thrumming with regeneration energy.

'No. Used all the energy I had left to save that husband of mine.' She said it so nonchalantly, like it was an everyday occurrence, but Romana's eyes widened.

'You gave your regenerations up to save the Doctor?'

'Yes. The ones I had left, anyway. I always thought…no, nevermind.' There was a look on her face Romana couldn't pin down, especially not now that she had turned away, the wild curls obscuring her face.

'You thought what?' She inquired gently.

'I thought that after regenerating so many times when I was young, I'd know how to control it, how much to give him and still keep some. But I couldn't, I gave it all. And I never once regretted it,' she added when she saw Romana's horrified stare. But that wasn't the part that worried Romana, giving regeneration energy to your spouse wasn't common practice, but it wasn't unheard of either.

No, she had picked up on what Patience - for the lack of another name - had not said. She regenerated when she was young. Timelords weren't considered adults until they were about 100 years old. Even though there seemed to be something different about Patience's physiology, something that made her able to sustain herself inside the Matrix without a physical body nearby to ground her, she didn't feel that old. Perhaps around 300. Still rather young. So young, that when she referred to herself as "young", she was talking about being a child.

There were many crimes on Gallifrey but one of the few things that were considered cruel above others was to force a child into regeneration. Exceptions were made, of course, in cases of the rare incurable illness or an accident, but those were one-in-a-million cases. What Patience was insinuating, however, would have been severely punished by gallifreyan law.

'May I-' She hesitated, paused for a moment. 'May I have a look at your memories? I might be able to help.'

There was no voiced consent, just one single nod and suddenly she opened herself to Romana. The memories flodded her and for a moment, she thought she was drowning. Then, she found a timestrand to hang on to and followed it, back to the very beginning.

A humming TARDIS, all too familiar, the Doctor's TARDIS. A lonely child in a big house, training to kill and being punished with death for failure. A space suit, being shot, dying again. Finally having the chance to grow up, on the eight body already. Perhaps more, everything was so fuzzy. The TARDIS again, like coming home. Hitler. Dying again. Regeneration, killing the Doctor. Saving him. Studies, travel. Killing and not killing the Doctor. A wedding. Life, back and forth, never linear. Adventures. Darillium, a reprieve. Then, the library. Dying again, for the Doctor, for good this time. Only, no. It wasn't death. A data core in the library, being stuck there. The library destroyed and then - nothing. Until suddenly - the Matrix. And finally, a name. Melody Pond. River Song. The woman who killed the Doctor, the woman who married him.

No wonder River didn't know how she had come to be in the Matrix. There was nothing in between the destruction of the library and her arrival - one moment she was there, the next she was here. But that was a mystery for another day. Respectfully, Romana took a step back. This woman was younger than she was by now, yet the things she had seen and done - they weren't even close to the things she had experienced and she felt oddly honoured that River had allowed her to have that glimpse at her life.

But there were so many things still missing and Romana gave her a wide smile.

'River Song,' she said solemnly, 'your life isn't over yet. In fact, your life has barely even begun. I, Romanadvoratrelundar, Lady President of Gallifrey, hereby declare that for the crimes committed against you when you were a child, a new body shall be loomed for you and you will be giving another chance to live your life however you see fit, as an honorary Time Lady with a full set of regenerations.'

All around them, the Matrix started humming like a bee hive in agreement of her declaration. Everything River had shared with Romana, the Matrix had seen them too and she was oddly relieved that it seemed to support her decision. River was just staring at her in disbelief.

'But I'm not even a proper Time Lord!' She protested meekly, incredulous. 'Or Gallifreyan for that matter.'

Romana shrugged. 'You're the child of TARDIS, I think that makes you more a child of the vortex than any Time Lord. So if anyone should be a time lord - lady, it's you. It's just a title anyway, one you usually get when you graduate from the academy. I think you have seen enough of time and space to not need to go through school again - therefore, honorary time lady. And the gallifreyan bit,' she waved her hands nonchalantly, 'you're close enough. No one will notice. Now, I need to go prepare that loom for you. Can you stay here for a little longer?'

River nodded slowly and it was visible that she still didn't quite believe and of what Romana had said real. But she smiled back when Romana beamed at her and even waved her goodbye. Assured that she was safe and taken care of for now, not to be shredded but rather cradled by the Matrix (and what an odd notion that was!) Romana pulled her mind back into her body and opened her eyes.

A satisfied smile graced her lips as she pushed herself from her chair. She had work to do.