The Dread of Tomorrow and Yesterday – Chapter 52
A/N: This is a chapter that we've all been waiting for, I promise. Another episode with River in it. We may even get a few answers in this chapter.
The end of last chapter: It was actually 11 and then it morphed into her husband, who plays an important part of Rhea's backstory. That was why she screamed, she was looking down at the Doctor and then he changed into the guy who put her through hell.
Replies to Reviews
CmdrHawke667: Thank you so much and the Doctor wasn't 10.
TimeladyAlly: I'm glad it wasn't too much for you. It was really only one specific word at the end that I was afraid people may get offended by.
NicoleR85: Thank you so much!
Guest: Yep, you're right, although the grey eyes belonged to the 11th Doctor and then his face changed to someone who has hurt Rhea in the past.
AxidentlGoddess: Rhea definitely has a soldier's mentality at some points, so she recognised the Slitheen as her target and she had to get rid of them. The Doctor is pulling down quite a few walls, but I want to make it seem realistic and have Rhea warm up to the Doctor really slowly, just because I don't think it would be realistic to have her jump the Doctor anytime soon. I'm so glad you like it so far and the slow process isn't bothering you. Thank you!
LookAliveSunshine03: I think that they would have that argument quite a few times over the span of their relationship, because Rhea's not averse to violence and killing the way the Doctor is. The 'him' at the end of the dream started off as 11 and ended up with her husband. Rhea will feature into Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords, and I promise it is coming up soon and it will be the very first season finale that I plan on doing.
DRWfangirl: Sorry, she's not going to accept her feelings that quick. She'll pretty much deny it every chance she gets. She was with 11 and then he changed into her husband, that was why she freaked out. I hope all goes well with your exams :) They can really suck :(
Audrie-13: She was dreaming of 11, so congrats for getting it! I really did want her to use her gun instead of just threatening and the Slitheen seemed like the perfect victim.
grapejuice101: Thank you so much and I'm so glad you liked it!
Marmalade1512: I'm so glad you liked it!
Warnings: Swearing, flirting.
Silence in the Library: Shadow Play
"Books!" The Doctor exclaimed. "People never really stop loving books."
As he was speaking, he picked up his coat and exited the TARDIS, followed by Rhea and Donna. They arrived to a huge but empty reception area.
"51st century. By now you've got holovids, direct to brain downloads, fiction mist, but you need the smell. The smell of books, Rhea, Donna. Deep breath." The Doctor told them.
"So, he's our tour guide now." Rhea grumbled to Donna, who laughed.
They crossed the room and went through a door. They walked down the staircase and had the chance to see the surface of the planet, a huge city all filled with bookshelves upon bookshelves.
"The Library." The Doctor sounded. "So big it doesn't need a name. Just a great big "the"." He said, proudly.
"It's like a city." Donna said, awed.
"It's a world." The Doctor corrected. "Literally a world. The whole core of the planet is the index computer, biggest hard drive ever. And up here, every book ever written. Whole continents of Jeffrey Archer, Bridget Jones, Monty Python's Big Red Book. Brand new editions, specially printed. We're near the equator, so..." He licked his finger then lifted it up to feel the wind. "This must be biographies!" He exclaimed and a smile began to spread across his face. "I love biographies!"
"Yeah, very you. Always a death at the end." Donna said, teasingly.
"You need a good death." The Doctor said, defensively. "Without death, there'd only be comedies. Dying gives us size."
"Yeah, imagine how big certain peoples' heads would be if there was no death." Rhea winked at the Doctor, who pinched her on the hip, making her squeal.
Donna reached her hand out to pick up a book, but the Doctor snatched it off her.
"Oi! Spoilers!" He chided, gently.
"What?" Donna's brow furrowed.
"These books are from your future. You don't wanna read ahead, spoil all the surprises. Like peeking at the end." The Doctor explained.
Rhea snorted. "Isn't travelling with you one large spoiler, honey?"
The Doctor looked sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck. Rhea had the random thought that he had never looked more adorable. "I... try to keep you away from major plot developments." He said, defensively.
Rhea raised an eyebrow and wrapped an arm around his thin waist. "Which you seem to be really bad at, honey."
"Hey, you know what, this is the biggest Library in the universe. So, where is everyone? It's silent." He went over to an information terminal and started to fiddle on it with his sonic screwdriver.
"The Library?" Donna asked, confused.
"The planet." The Doctor corrected. "The whole planet."
"Maybe it's a Sunday." Donna shrugged.
"No," The Doctor shook his head. "I never land on Sundays. Sundays are boring."
"I love Sundays. They're my rest day." Rhea murmured. "And church in the morning."
Donna looked at her, strangely. "You go to church? I thought you were Indian."
"I am Indian, on my dad's side. My mom's an Italian. She was raised Catholic and her and I go to church together whenever I can join her."
"Well… Maybe everyone's really, really quiet." Donna offered, looking.
"Yeah, maybe. But they'd still show up on the system." The Doctor said, frustratedly.
"Doctor." Rhea called out and the Doctor turned to look at her. "Why are we here? Really, why?" She asked, curiously, realising that there was something else that had brought the Doctor here and not just the books.
"Oh, you know," The Doctor shrugged. "Just passing."
"No, Rhea's got a good point. It was all, "let's hit the beach" then suddenly we're in a Library. Why?" Donna asked, coming up next to Rhea.
"Now, that's interesting." The Doctor muttered to himself, ignoring Rhea's and Donna's concerns.
"What?" Rhea frowned, stepping closer to the Doctor.
"Scanning for life forms. If I do a scan looking for your basic humanoids - you know, your book readers, few limbs and a face," On the terminal's screen, they could see the words 'filtered humanoid lifeform scan; 3; complete'. "Apart from us, I get nothing. Zippo, nada, see? Nobody home. But if I widen the parameters to any kind of life..." He pressed a few keys on the terminal and numbers ran on the screen, writing, 'error; 1,000,000,000,000; lifeform number capped at maximum record'. "A million million. Gives up after that. A million million."
"But there's nothing here." Rhea said, pointedly. "There's no-one."
"And not a sound. A million million life forms, and silence in the Library." The Doctor murmured.
"But there's no-one here. There's just books. I mean, it's not the books, is it? I mean, it can't be the books, can it? I mean, books can't be alive?" Donna asked, a frightened look forming on her face.
Donna and the Doctor looked at each other and then, cautiously, reached towards a book. Rhea smacked their hands away and glared at them.
"For God's sake, the books are not alive! This isn't Harry Potter, damnit!"
Suddenly, they heard a voice coming from behind them, making them all jump.
"Welcome!" A feminine voice called out.
"That came from in there." Donna said, nervously.
"Yep." Rhea said, grimly.
The three headed back to the reception. A statue was situated in the middle of the room, looking like a normal abstract statue with a real life face mounted onto its head.
"I am Courtesy Node 710/aqua. Please enjoy the Library and respect the personal access codes of all your fellow readers regardless of species or hygiene taboo."
Donna elbowed Rhea in the stomach. "That face, it looks real." She muttered, nervously.
Rhea grimaced. "It looks like someone sliced off a face and pasted it onto the groove in the statue."
"Don't worry about it." The Doctor said, reassuringly.
"But a statue with a real face, though! It's a hologram or something, isn't it?" Donna asked.
"No, but really, it's… fine." The Doctor murmured.
Rhea stared at him. "You're screwing with us, right?"
"Additional. There follows a brief message from the head librarian for your urgent attention. It has been edited for tone and content by Felman Lux Automated Decency Filter. Message follows. "Run. For God's sake, run. No way is safe. The Library has sealed itself, we can't... Oh, they're here. Arg. Slarg. Snick." Message ends. Please switch off your mobile comm units for the comfort of other readers." The node said in a monotone.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "So that's why we're here... Any other messages, same date stamp?" He asked the node.
"One additional message. This message carries a Felman Lux coherency warning of 5, 0, 11..."
The Doctor growled, impatiently. "Yeah, yeah, fine, fine, fine, just play it."
"Message follows. "Count the shadows. For God's sake, remember... if you want to live, count the shadows." Message ends."
Realisation dawned in the Doctor's eyes and he paled, significantly. "Donna… Rhea…"
"Yeah." The two said, simultaneously.
"Stay out of the shadows." He said, warningly.
"Why?" Rhea frowned, narrowing her eyes at the Doctor. "What's in the shadows?" She asked, carefully.
The three went through another door and arrived in an aisle between bookshelves, several floors high, reaching as far as the eye could see.
"So… we aren't just in the neighbourhood, are we?" Rhea asked, knowingly.
"Yeah," The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck, sheepishly. "I kind of, sort of lied a bit. I got a message on the psychic paper. He showed them the psychic paper, which read as 'The Library. Come as soon as you can. X'. "What do you think? Cry for help?"
"Signed with a kiss?" Rhea raised an eyebrow and her hands fell to her knees. She had to admit she felt the sting of jealousy in her stomach when she saw the 'X'. Oh, great, someone else interested in the Doctor.
"Oh, we've all done that." The Doctor waved off.
"We have?" Rhea looked confused. "I never did that. But… I have to admit I dotted my 'I's with little hearts when I was in middle school." She said, sheepishly.
"No way." Donna crowed, smirking at Rhea.
"Oh, come on," Rhea said, defensively. "Tell me you've never done something like that before." She turned to the Doctor. "So, who's it from, you stud you." She teased.
"Shut up. No idea." The Doctor said, mournfully.
"So why did we come here, why did you..." Donna began.
"Donna! Rhea!" The Doctor shouted, suddenly.
The lights on the far end of the corridor went out and the darkness that the room was bathed in seemed to move towards them, slowly.
"What's happening?" Donna asked, gripping onto Rhea's forearm.
"Run!" The Doctor shouted.
The three raced down the aisles until they reached the door. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and flashed it at the lock, but to no avail.
"Come on!" The Doctor muttered to himself.
"What, is it locked?" Donna asked, panting, looking in every direction, desperately.
"Jammed! The wood's warped!" The Doctor explained through gritted teeth.
"Sonic it, use the thingy!" Donna demanded, panic leaking into her voice.
"I can't, it's wood!" The Doctor growled, impatiently, flicking the sonic at the keyhole.
"What, it doesn't do wood?!" Donna shrieked, incredulously.
"Hang on, hang on, if I can vibrate the molecules, fry the bindings, I can shatterline the interface..."
"Oh, take a hike, Bazooka Joe." Rhea snapped.
She shifted her position, so that she was standing in front of the door, and lifted her leg. She slammed her foot into the door, breaking it off its very hinges. The three burst into the room and shut the door behind them, bolting it shut.
The Doctor spun around, seeing a metal sphere hovering in the middle of the room. "Oh! Hello! Sorry to burst on you like this. Okay if we stop here for a bit?"
The sphere fell to the ground.
"What is it?" Rhea asked, carefully, eyeing the sphere with suspicion.
"Security camera." The Doctor explained. "Switched itself off."
He picked up the sphere and started to examine it. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and flashed it at the sphere.
"Nice door skills, Rhea." The Doctor said, appreciatively.
"Yeah, well, psychologist, remember. Sometimes, my patients try to commit suicide." Rhea shrugged.
"What was that, what was after us? I mean, did we just run away from a power cut?" Donna asked, worriedly.
"Possibly." The Doctor said, simply.
"Are we safe here?" Rhea asked, carefully.
"Course we're safe. There's a little shop." The Doctor said, pointing towards the gift shop of the hospital. "Gotcha!" He exclaimed, suddenly, making Donna and Rhea look at him, strangely.
The cover on the security camera's lens fell open.
'No, stop it, no, no!' appeared on a display of the camera.
"Ooh, I'm sorry. I really am, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." The Doctor murmured, apologetically. He put the sphere down on the floor. "It's alive."
"You said it was a security camera." Donna pointed out.
"It is." The Doctor said, grimly. "It's an alive one."
'The Library is breached. Others are coming.' appeared on the display.
"Others?" Rhea stepped closer to the Doctor, curling a hand around his bicep. "What does it mean, 'others'?"
The Doctor shook his head, just as puzzled as she was, and she leaned her head against his arm. Donna frowned and turned to a node in the room, this one having a different face.
Donna cleared her throat. "Excuse me, what does it mean, "others"?"
The Doctor turned to her. "That's barely more than a speak your weight machine, it can't help you." He told her.
Donna turned back to look at him. "So, why's it got a face?"
"This flesh aspect was donated by Mark Chambers on the occasion of his death." The node explained.
Donna paled and recoiled in shock. "It's a real face?!" She cried out.
"It has been actualised individually for you from the many facial aspects saved to our extensive flesh banks. Please enjoy."
Donna swallowed hard, her shock showing clearly on her face. "It chose me a dead face it thought I'd like?" She asked, incredulously. "That statue's got a real dead person's face on it..." She muttered to herself, finding herself unable to believe it.
"It's the 51st century," The Doctor shrugged, dismissively. "That's… basically like donating a park bench."
"It's donating a face!" Donna yelled.
Rhea took a step back, shaking her head at the node, finding it difficult to believe that someone would actually donate a park bench. 51st century or not. The Doctor's eyes widened.
"No, wait, no!" The Doctor shouted.
He grabbed her by the waist, stopping her from entering into a dark shadow behind her. Her hand fell onto his hands, which were on her waist, and she stared up at him in shock. His hands tightened their grip and pulled her into him. After a few seconds, her haphephobia kicked in, making her skin itch, and she tugged at his wrists.
"If you're gonna grope me, we should really get a room." Rhea said, teasingly.
The Doctor's eyes widened and he removed his hands at once, rubbing them. "Right, sorry."
Donna rolled her eyes, entirely too used to their constant erotic tangoing. "If you guys can stop flirting…?" She eyed them, pointedly.
The Doctor cleared his throat, but he slipped his arm around Rhea's waist, not willing to let her out of his sight, not with all of these things after them.
"The shadow, look." He ordered.
"What about the shadows?" Rhea looked over at him, confused.
"'Count the shadows'." The Doctor quoted.
"One. There, I counted it, one shadow." Donna told him, impatiently.
Rhea's eyes widened as she started to realise what the Doctor was getting at. she stared at the shadow with newfound horror. "Yeah, Donna… but what's casting it?" She hissed.
All three looked around, but saw nothing that could cast the shadow.
"Oh!" The Doctor exclaimed, making the two women stare at him with shock and surprise. "I'm thick! Look at me, I'm old and thick! Head's too full of stuff, I need a bigger head!"
Rhea snorted. "If you had a bigger head, you'd never be able to fit through a doorway." She teased and squeaked when the Doctor pinched her hip, playfully, the shot of pain sending tingles down her body and settling between her thighs.
They looked down a corridor, seeing only darkness and a single lamp blinking, faintly.
"Power must be going." Donna explained, weakly.
"This place runs on fission cells. They'll outburn the sun." The Doctor informed them.
"Then, what's making this place dark?" Rhea asked, suspiciously.
"It's not dark." The Doctor looked at Rhea, grimly.
Donna turned around and noticed that the shadow that they were worried about had just disappeared. "The shadow. It's gone." She whispered.
The Doctor tightened his grip on Rhea. "We need to get back to the TARDIS."
"Why?" Donna asked, confused.
Rhea bit her lip. "Because I don't think that shadow just disappeared. I think it moved."
"Reminder: the Library has been breached, others are coming. Reminder: the Library has been breached, others are coming. Reminder: the Library has been breached..." The node intoned over and over again.
Suddenly, a door on the other side of the room burst open and six people in spacesuits entered. Their leader walked straight up to the Doctor and Rhea. She switched her visor to transparent to reveal a very familiar, at least to Rhea, female face. She smiled at the Doctor and Rhea.
"Hello, sweetie." She greeted the Doctor. She turned to Rhea, who looked at her with wide-eyed shock. "Hello, darling."
If Rhea needed any more evidence as to who was under that spacesuit, those two endearments spoke a thousand words.
"Get out." The Doctor snapped, ignoring the fact that the woman had called him "sweetie". He had to bristle at the idea of her calling "darling", though. He was the only one who had the right to call Rhea by a nickname. She was his Rhea. No one else's.
"Doctor." Donna admonished.
"All of you, turn around, get back in your rocket and fly away! Tell your grandchildren you came to the Library and lived, they won't believe you." The Doctor growled, impatiently.
"Pop your helmets, everyone. We've got breathers." River ordered and everyone removed their breathers.
"Doctor Song." Rhea purred and River looked at her with an enigmatic smile, spreading across her lips. "Haven't seen you in awhile." She grinned.
"Nice to see you too, Rhea darling." River winked at her.
The Doctor just looked at the two women with increasing amounts of confusion. Rhea knew this woman. How does she know this woman? He resisted the urge to scowl. He knew Rhea was bisexual and he knew she had been with women before. But he had never had the opportunity to feel jealous of a woman before. Until now. It had always men. He had asked Rhea why that was and she had said that, since she had met him, she had been attracted to many women, but she only saw herself opening up to one of them. He had the nagging suspicion and the chilling dread that maybe this was the woman Rhea had been talking about. His hand tightened around Rhea's waist, possessively, and his eyes narrowed at the woman, suspiciously. All of sudden, he felt like a little boy whose toy was being threatened to be taken away.
She's mine.
Donna also stared at Rhea and River, her brow furrowed. A slight bit of jealousy niggled at her, especially at the way that River and Rhea looked at her. She didn't know if it was friendship or something more between them, but there was definitely something there between them. And she didn't like it. If it was friendship, Donna knew she had to make her presence known. As far as she was concerned, the Doctor and Rhea were hers now. She wasn't about to let some woman swan in and take them away from her. And if it was something more than friendship, the Doctor and Rhea were her best friends. If this cow was interested in Rhea, it was her duty as the Doctor's and Rhea's best friend to make sure that she had no chance with Rhea.
"How do you know they're not androids?" A dark skinned woman beside River regarded the Doctor, Rhea and Donna with suspicion.
River smirked. "Cos I've dated androids. They're rubbish." She said, teasingly. She looked over at Rhea. "And she is definitely not an android." She winked over at Rhea, who smiled.
"Who is this? You said we were the only expedition, I paid for exclusives." A balding, portly man said, angrily.
"I lied," River shrugged, nonplussed by the accusations. "I'm always lying. Bound to be others."
"Miss Evangelista, I want to see the contracts." The balding man demanded.
River ignored him and looked at the Doctor and Rhea. "You came through the north door, yeah? How was that, much damage?" She asked, curiously.
The Doctor sighed, impatiently. "Please, just leave. I'm asking you seriously and properly, just lea..." His eyes widened. "Hang on. Did you say expedition?" He asked, incredulously.
"My expedition, I funded it." The balding man chimed in.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Oh, you're not, are you? Tell me you're not archaeologists." A vague look of condescension and disdain formed on his face.
River raised a delicate eyebrow. "Got a problem with archaeologists?" She asked, slowly.
"I'm a time traveller. I point and laugh at archaeologists." The Doctor scoffed.
"Ah," River smiled and nodded to herself. She stretched out a hand for him to shake. "Professor River Song, archaeologist."
Rhea raised an eyebrow. "You're a Professor now." Another out-of-order thing. Great.
"Oh, I'm going to be a Professor some day, am I?"
River looked over at her. She's not hiding from me. Why is he? "Nowadays." A smile played on her lips.
The Doctor looked between Rhea and River, suspecting now more than ever that there was something between them. "River Song, lovely name." He placed an arm on the small of River's back and nudged her, gently, in the direction of the way she had come. "As you're leaving, and you're leaving now... you need to set up a quarantine beacon. Code-wall the planet, the whole planet. Nobody comes here, not ever again... not one living thing, not here, not ever." The dark-skinned woman walked towards the shadows. "Stop right there! What's your name?" The Doctor demanded.
"Anita." She answered.
"Anita, stay out of the shadows." The Doctor warned. "Not a foot, not a finger in the shadows till you're safely back in your ship. Goes for all of you. Stay in the light. Find a nice, bright spot and just stand. If you understand me, look very, very scared."
Rhea watched in amusement and interest as the members of the expedition stared at him, blankly, with an exception of River, who regarded the Doctor with a smile.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "No, bit more scared than that." Miss Evangelista's expression grew more and more worried with every word the Doctor said. "Okay, do for now. You, who are you?" The Doctor looked at one of the men.
"Uh, Dave…"
"Okay, Dave…"
"Oh, well Other Dave, because that's Proper Dave the pilot, he was the first Dave, so when we..." The Doctor took Other Dave to the door they had just come in through. "Other Dave, the way you came, does it look the same as before?"
"Yeah." Other Dave frowned, looking closer. "Oh, it's a bit darker."
"How much darker?"
"Oh, like I could see where we came through just like a moment ago. I can't now." Other Dave explained.
The Doctor nodded to himself, grimly. "Seal up this door. We'll find another way out." He walked back to the rest of he group.
"We're not looking for a way out. Miss Evangelista?" The balding man looked over at Miss Evangelista.
Miss Evangelista stepped forward to the Doctor, Rhea and Donna with papers in her hand. "I'm Mr. Lux's personal... everything. You need to sign these contracts agreeing that your individual experience inside the Library are the intellectual property of the Felman Lux Corporation."
"Right, give it here." The Doctor took the papers.
"Oh, thank you so much." Rhea smirked, her fingers shifting through the papers.
"Yeah, lovely, thanks." Donna smiling, grabbing the papers.
All three ripped the papers into pieces and dropped them onto the floor, dismissively.
"My family built this library. I have rights." Mr Lux protested.
Rhea snorted. "I'm sure you think you do."
River laughed. "You have a mouth that won't stop." She turned to the Doctor. "You think there's danger here?" She asked, curiously.
"Something came to this Library and killed everything in it, killed a whole world. Danger? Could be." The Doctor said, sarcastically.
River frowned. "That was 100 years ago. The Library's been silent for 100 years. Whatever came here is long dead." She pointed out.
"Bet your life?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow.
River's smile grew. "Always."
Mr Lux glared at Other Dave. "What are you doing?"
"He said seal the door."
"Torch!" The Doctor exclaimed and snatched the torch from Mr Lux' s hand.
"You're taking orders from him?" Mr Lux asked Other Dave, incredulously.
Rhea smirked. "Spooky, isn't it?" She purred.
The Doctor pulled Rhea with him to the other side of the door and they started to look around, using the torch to light up the dark corners.
"Almost every species in the universe has an irrational fear of the dark. But they're wrong. Cos it's not irrational. It's Vashta Nerada." The Doctor explained.
Rhea looked at him as if he had just grown three heads. "No, it's not irrational, but not because of Vashta Nerada." She said the last two words as if they were the stupidest thing she had ever heard. "Nyctophobia is a symptom of separation anxiety disorder. It's hardly irrational."
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Can we not have this discussion now? If you want to discuss psychological theories, this is probably not the best time for it, beautiful."
Rhea scowled at him. "So, what's Vashta Nerada?"
"It's what's in the dark. It's what's always in the dark." The Doctor said, simply, not offering a better explanation than that. He walked back to the group. "Lights! That's what we need, lights. You got lights?"
"What for?" River asked, confused.
"Form a circle, safe area, big as you can, lights pointing out." The Doctor ordered.
"Oi!" River called out to the members in her expedition. "Do as he says."
"You're not listening to this man?!" Mr Lux exclaimed, incredulously.
"Apparently, I am. Anita, unpack the lights. Other Dave, make sure the door's secure, then help Anita. Mr. Lux, put your helmet back on, block the visor. Proper Dave, find an active terminal. I want you to access the Library database, see what you can find about what happened here a hundred years ago. Pretty Boy, Beautiful Girl, you're with me. Step into my office." River smirked, walking over to a desk with an information terminal.
Mr Lux looked confused. "Professor Song, why am I the only one wearing my helmet?"
River winked at Rhea. "I don't fancy you." She said, cheekily.
The Doctor pulled Rhea over to Proper Dave, much to her confusion. "Probably I can help you."
"Pretty Boy, Beautiful Girl, with me I said." River called out from the other side of the room.
The Doctor's eyes widened and he looked at Rhea, dumbfounded. "Oh, I'm Pretty Boy?" He looked at Rhea and Donna with confusion.
"Yes!" Donna rolled her eyes. She paused, a strange look forming on her face. "Ooh, that came out a bit quick!" She grimaced, making Rhea laugh.
The Doctor looked at Rhea, offended. "Pretty?!"
Rhea grinned, her tongue poking out between her teeth, and waggled her eyebrows, meaningfully. "Oh, definitely." She smirked. She started to walk over to River's place, the Doctor following her, while talking to the rest of the group.
"Don't let your shadows cross! Seriously, don't even let them touch. Any of them could be infected." The Doctor warned.
Other Dave stared up at the Doctor with confusion. "How can a shadow be infected?" He asked.
Miss Evangelista looked around, seeing that everyone was busy, but having nothing to do herself.
"Excuse me, can I help?" Miss Evangelista asked, nervously.
Anita gave her a tight smile. "No, we're fine."
"I could just... you know, hold things."
"No, really, we're okay." Other Dave said, reassuringly.
"Couldn't she help?" Donna asked, frowning at their attitude.
Other Dave shook his head. "Trust me. I just spent four days on a ship with that woman. She's..."
"Couldn't tell the difference between the escape pod and the bathroom. We had to go back for her. Twice." A smile played on Anita's lips.
Rhea kneeled down beside them, having heard their conversation on her way to River. "You know, people usually put down others because they're insecure about themselves. It may be because you're jealous of her or you resent her for her looks, maybe, but you put her down because you feel bad about yourself. But, to be honest, I don't really give a fuck about your justification, but if you give that girl any crap about her intelligence again…" She smiled, viciously. "Just don't do it, it'll be better for you."
Donna smirked.
River was unpacking things out of her bag. She pulled a familiar ridged book that resembled the TARDIS on the front.
"Thanks." River said, not looking at Rhea and the Doctor just yet.
"For what?" The Doctor looked confused.
"The usual." River shrugged. "For coming when I call."
The Doctor's eyes widened. "Oh, that was you?"
River stared at him, strangely, before looking at Rhea, curiously. "You're doing a very good job, acting like you don't know me. I'm assuming there's a reason. I mean, Rhea isn't, why are you?"
The Doctor's brow furrowed. "A fairly good one, actually." He said, slowly. He looked over at Rhea, his eyes asking her do you know who this is? Rhea just shrugged, that same, knowing smile on her lips.
"Okay, shall we do diaries, then? Where are we this time?" River scooted closer to the Doctor and Rhea, her eyes narrowing at them. "Uh, going by your face, I'd say it's early days for you. Yes? So, um..." She flipped a few pages in the diary. "Crash of the Byzantium, have we done that yet?"
Rhea raised her hand as if she were in elementary school. "Ooh, I have." She said, happily, much to the Doctor's suspicion and confusion.
"You have?" The Doctor asked, incredulously.
Rhea shook her head. "Spoilers, honey." She turned to River. "So, how's it hangin', Doctor Song? Wait, sorry, it's Professor now, isn't it?" She smiled. "You weren't one last time."
"The Byzantium?" River raised an eyebrow. "Is that the last time you saw me?" She asked, curiously, her eyes trying to hide the hurt she felt.
This Rhea was still young, almost as young as the Rhea who had been on the Byzantium with her. She just had to comfort herself with the fact that, at least, this Rhea knew who she was. But it was hard for her. Ever since the Byzantium, she had been joined up with a Rhea who was much older. All of them had gone through everything they had gone through. On the Byzantium, she had realised that the Doctor was young, but he had at least recognised her. With the expressionless eyes of this Doctor, she wasn't sure if he knew who she was. And that was almost as hurtful as the Byzantium. Rhea knew her less than the Doctor had known her on the Byzantium. She wouldn't trust her. Not as far as she could throw her. Rhea nor the Doctor would trust her and that might just kill her.
"Obviously ringing no bells." She said, slowly, to the Doctor, looking away from his empty of recognition eyes. She flipped over several pages. "Right, um, oh. Picnic at Asgard. Have we done Asgard yet?" She said, her voice purring with her reminiscence. This time, both the Doctor and Rhea stared at her, blankly. "Obviously not. Blimey, very early days, then." She muttered to herself. "Huh, life with a time traveller, never knew it could be such hard work." She looked at the Doctor's face, carefully, and shifted in her surprise. "Look at you! You're young." She whispered.
The Doctor started to smile. "I'm really not, you know."
"Nah, but you are. Your eyes. You're younger than I've ever seen you." River murmured. She looked at Rhea for confirmation, who shrugged in dismay, not knowing if this was the first time that the Doctor met River.
The Doctor shifted closer to Rhea in his discomfort, a little uneasy by the way River was peering at him. "You've seen me before, then?" He asked, slowly, gripping onto Rhea's hand.
River swallowed hard. "Doctor... please tell me you know who I am?" She whispered, practically begging for him to say 'yes'.
The Doctor frowned. "Who are you?"
When Rhea looked at River's face, the woman looked as if she had been slapped clear across the face. Her eyes were wide with tears, which didn't spill over, and her face was deathly pale. Her mind was immediately drawn to when she had met River for the first time. Her face had looked exactly like this. Whoever this woman was and whoever she was to them, specifically, they meant a great deal to her. No one would be in this much pain for strangers who didn't know who they were. She had to admit she felt a pang of sympathy for River. She couldn't imagine how it must be to be faced with someone you cared for a great deal for and have them stare at her with unrecognising eyes. She wondered how the Doctor had managed it when she had met him for the first time. She didn't know what she would do when she came face-to-face with the Doctor for the first time, at least on his side.
Suddenly, they were interrupted by a noise, a kind of alarm that sounded strange to their ears.
"Sorry, that was me. Trying to get through into the security protocols, I seem to have set something off. What is that? Is that an alarm?" Proper Dave asked, confused.
Rhea and Donna frowned. "Doctor? Rhea?" Donna called out. "That sounds like…"
"It is. It's a phone!" The Doctor shouted.
"I'm trying to call up the data core, but it's not responding. Just that noise." Proper Dave explained.
"But it's a phone!" Donna cried out, confused.
"Let me try something." The Doctor murmured, going over to one of the information terminals.
The terminal's screen showed the symbol that was on the security camera and the floor of a living room, with 'ACCESS DENIED' written over it.
"Okay," The Doctor amended. "Doesn't like that, let's try something else." Something changed on the screen and the Doctor leaned back. "OK, here it comes."
Suddenly, a little girl with brown hair appeared on the screen, seated at a small table, drawing pictures on a piece of paper.
"Hello?" The Doctor called out, confusion leaking into his voice as he stared at the little girl.
The girl looked at him, strangely. "Hello. Are you in my television?" She asked, innocently.
Rhea laughed.
"Well, no, I'm, I'm... sort of in space." The Doctor stammered, unsure of what to say to a little girl. "I-I was trying to call up the data core of a triple-grid security processor." He explained, weakly.
"Would you like to speak to my dad?" The girl asked.
Rhea slid next to the Doctor. "Honey, if your mom or your dad are there, that'd be lovely." She said, sweetly.
The girl's eyes widened, suddenly, as she stared at the man and the woman in her television. "I know you! You were in my Library."
The Doctor's brow furrowed. "Your library?" He asked, incredulously.
"The Library's never been on the television before. What have you done?" The girl asked.
The Doctor looked sheepish, being scolded by a little girl. "Ah, I... I just rerouted the interface..."
The connection broke and the Doctor and Rhea were faced with a blank screen again.
"What happened, who was that?" River asked, looking at both of them.
The words 'ACCESS DENIED' appeared on the screen again.
The Doctor pressed a few keys on the terminal, but wasn't able to get through again. He ran across the room, back towards the terminal where he and Rhea had been situated near, with River.
"I need another terminal. Keep working on those lights, we need those lights!" The Doctor shouted.
"You heard him, people, let there be light!" Rhea called out and ran over to join the Doctor, River hot on her heels.
As his fingers flew over the terminal, his eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the TARDIS-shaped diary that River had left on the desk. His eyes continued to fly in that direction. Finally, he reached for it, but Rhea snatched it away before it fell into his hands and she handed it to River.
"Don't even try it, alien boy." Rhea said, warningly. "You're not allowed to see inside the diary, it's against the rules." She explained. She smiled. "You're the one who told me to stay away from it. Spoilers, apparently." She patted him on the arm.
The Doctor narrowed her eyes at her in suspicion, wondering where she was getting all of her information from. How does she know River Song? What isn't she telling me? And what the hell is with this diary of hers? How does Rhea know the rules? "What rules?" He asked, carefully.
"Your rules." Rhea and River said, simultaneously.
A/N: Hope you all liked the first chapter of Silence in the Library. The next chapter will have more Doctor-Rhea-River interactions, I promise. In fact, we may even get some sparks between Rhea and River from now on. Rhea is quite protective over the Doctor, she may not like some of the things that River says to or about the Doctor in these episodes. Plus, Rhea's not angry at the Doctor like the way she was in The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone. Trust me, this will be instrumental in future Doctor-Rhea interactions and River-Rhea interactions.
Okay, so a reminder, the 400th reviewer is entitled to one spoiler about this story or any one of my stories. So, use that as an incentive to review.
And, the anniversary of when I first posted this story is coming up on Christmas Eve. What would you guys like to commemorate this occasion? Maybe a Tumblr chatroom, where you guys can actually talk to Rhea and ask her questions? Or a special chapter?
Anyway, hope you all liked the chapter and don't forget to leave a review!