The Other Girl
Featuring River Song
Onboard the SS Madame De Pompadour, sometime in the fifty-first century, there was a startling blue flash. This blue flash eventually ended and River Song stood in its place: with her curly blondish hair and charming black cat burglar clothes, she examined her surroundings.
"Hmm, what do we have here?" she wondered, noticing that the TARDIS was parked nearby and saying, "Oh, of course he would be here. But which one?"
Her answer came when a young man wearing a brown pinstripe suit emerged from a nearby passageway and stared at her, amazed to see someone else other than his two travelling companions.
"Ah, so you must be one of the last surviving crewmembers then?" he presumed, "I've got a lot of questions for you."
River instantly knew that today wouldn't be easy.
Toby Warren was fast asleep. He hadn't got used to living in a place so different from his old home, but he was certain that, in a few months, things would be fine. Ever since he had been evacuated from London, he had been living in Devon with the Arbroaths. The Arbroaths were a charming family and hardly ever argued. That was probably something to do with the lovely community spirit that they had and the pleasant days he had spent with them.
His thoughts were interrupted, however, when he heard two people talking. He sat up and tried to focus on the discussion. It was a man and a woman, talking. He couldn't tell where the talking was coming from, but he had a feeling of where it could be.
That was before he noticed the two pairs of legs in his fireplace.
River had been asked a lot of questions by the Doctor over the years and she had got used to that. That was how she had taken the interrogation by her tenth husband in her stride. He always asked her questions, no matter which incarnation she encountered.
"Doctor, I need you to trust me. Don't ask me why and don't ask me how I know you, because I'm not allowed to say that. Not yet, anyway." she explained to him, hoping that he would leave her to get on with trying to escape. The reason for her wanting to escape was that Andraax, Slayer of the Seven Suns of Kesh, was hunting her down after she had accidentally stolen one of his husbands. Why she had stolen his husband was complicated, but it involved a box of chocolates, the Koh-I-Noor, an angry scottish man with grumpy eyebrows and a TARDIS.
"Hang on, have we met?" the Doctor asked her, slightly remembering her voice. This was when River remembered all the encounters she had had with the Doctor's past and future incarnations.
"I hope not." River replied, before noticing that they were now in someone's bedroom and saying, "Doctor, we're not on the spaceship any more."
The Doctor glanced around the bedroom and glanced back at her.
"Ah." he simply said, before muttering to himself, "Where's Reinette?"
His quest for Reinette was cut short when he noticed a young boy standing nearby them. He seemed frightened and River couldn't work out why. The Doctor was occupied on other matters, mainly attempting to get back to the spaceship to find Rose and Mickey.
"Are you alright?" she asked the young boy, "Is there someone bothering you?"
"Why were you in my fireplace?" the boy wondered, "Have you come to fix it?"
"In some ways, yes." River replied, scanning the fireplace with her vortex manipulator and informing the Doctor, "Doctor, this fireplace is a time window leading to here."
"But I don't understand. The ship's focusing on Reinette, not some young boy from goodness knows where." the Doctor said, puzzled, before having a thought and realising, "Unless this is an option that the ship forgot to close down."
"Like the remnants of a science experiment?" River suggested.
"Exactly." the Doctor said with a grin, "What's your name by the way?"
"Martha Noble." River replied, remembering this incarnation of her husband and everything he was yet to face.
"No, not you. The boy in the pyjamas. Who are you?"
"Toby Warren." Toby said, "Is that where the strange men came from?"
The Doctor smiled, realising his theory was correct.
In a matter of minutes, River tried to think of ways to close the time window and allow her husband to be on the other side of it. She then settled on one idea and began to initiate it.
"Doctor, perhaps we should be leaving." she suggested, kissing him on the lips gently, "I think you'd better be getting back to your friends."
"What's in your lipstick?" he asked, staggering towards the fireplace.
"The sweat of a memory worm. You'll lose the last ten minutes or so of your memories," she explained, taking off his tie and tying it to his forehead, "and I will miss you, you pretty boy."
River then took out a pair of shades from her pocket and placed them over his eyes, before activating the time window and making him go back to the fifty-first century.
That was one problem down. All she had to do now was destroy the time window somehow. Thinking quickly, she took out her plasma cutter, set it to reseal and sealed the gaps around the fireplace. Once the fireplace was sealed, she stepped back, admiring her work.
"Who are you and who was that man?" Toby wondered.
"Oh, we're time travellers. You don't need to know any more than that." she answered, placing her fingers on his temples and making him fall asleep.
THE END