Ch 6

River watched in fear as the room around her seemingly transformed into a white one with nothing but walls, one of which had a screen on it. She was starting to panic, spinning around and trying to find a way out.

"Now, dear. That's not going to work. I'm very good at what I do, so your actions are useless," came a woman's voice.

River spun around, looking at the screen.

It had been switched on, Missy's face displayed with a triumphant look. "I'll give you a hint. You're not in the TARDIS."

"How did you do that? How did you even know how to get to me?" She glared at her.

Missy explained to her like it was a drag. "Oh please keep up, I've been stalking around your pathetic blue box for days. You think I didn't know what you were all up to every second? I'm a Timelady, a real one. I'm more brilliant than you ten times over."

"What do you want with me? I'm dead. I'm useless to you." River growled, crossing her arms.

"The Doctor seems to think you're the bee's knees." She sighed, obviously in disagreement. "But since you are technically dead, it's my turn to keep you as a pet and his turn to suck it up and get his thumb out of his mouth. I've been doing some poking around your past to see what the fuss is about. That blue book of yours was dreadfully sentimental and not nearly as exciting as I'd hoped."

River rolled her eyes, turning her back to the screen.

"Don't pout, it's disgusting to look at." Missy made a face to match. "Have you figured out where you are yet or do I have to spell it out for your minuscule brain."

"Just tell me." She growled.

"Ugh, you really live up to the title 'halfbreed'." She inspected her nails. "Did your hubby tell you about his birthday present? You're in a nether cube."

"Do you not understand that there is nothing you can do to me now? I'm dead. Keeping me from my family won't do anything."

"Yes and no." She replied, resting her head on her fingers. "Yes, you're dead, no: there are plenty of things I can still do to you."

River rolled her eyes again, sitting on the floor with her back to Missy, not wanting to deal with her.

"You're no fun." She pouted. "I'm not trying to get at you, nimwit. I'm trying to get at him. He's probably running around his TARDIS trying to figure where the hell you went if he can get past the block I put in."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." River muttered.

"Oh?" Missy raised a penciled eyebrow.

"Are you going to do anything to my children?" She asked, changing the subject.

"If I was, I wouldn't tell you." She mused. "At least not yet anyways."

"Don't hurt them." She warned, "Hurting them will not help your situation with the Doctor, it'll only make it much, much worse."

Missy shrugged. "No, but it will rid the universe of the abominations. I quite like that plan actually, thanks for the tip." River shook her head falling silent again. "Well, while you mope about in a box in my pocket, I've got some mischief to make." The screen powered off.

As soon as it did, River buried her face in her hands and cried. She refused to give Missy the satisfaction of seeing her so upset, she had held it in until now. Just when she had thought she was going to be able to stay with her family, they were taken from her again. She wanted to badly to just disappear and die completely. She didn't want to be stuck in a half-world where she could be toyed with but couldn't protect or see her family. She really was destined for hell.


Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor and Vastra had been working beneath the console for at least and hour. He was getting frustrated, only just managing to undo the block Missy had placed, but now he was having even more trouble locating his wife. "I don't understand his." He voiced to his friend.

Vastra shook her head, "I don't know, I don't understand it either."

"I should at least be able to locate her." He muttered. "It's not like she'd be able to leave."

"Perhaps she was never here in the first place." Vastra mumbled.

"She was." He insisted. "She was on the scan. I talked to her. Amelia talked to her. Arthur could see her, too." He added, realizing that had been the case.

Vastra sighed, "You should spend some time with your children and take a break from this."

He sighed in frustration, pulling at one of the wires. The TARDIS made an angry noise and he muttered a sloppy apology. "Alright." He scrubbed his hands over his face and pocketed his screwdriver. "You're right. I need a break."

"You should take them to your flat, I think they need to get away from the TARDIS for a little bit." She suggested.

"Do you think that's the best idea with Missy still around?" He peered up at her.

She sighed, "Perhaps not."

"I just need them safe and happy. And right now I can only partially assure one of those things." He looked at the floor before turning to go to his kids. "Thanks for helping me try to find River."

"Of course, if you think of anything else, let me know." She nodded, "I need to retrieve some things from your bedroom, if you don't mind. River... requested that I do this for her if she..." She trailed off.

He nodded. "I understand. I'll be with the girls."

Freya was still fast asleep, while Amelia was huddled under a blanket with the picture of River, crying. The Doctor moved to sit next to her, glancing at Jack. "Amelia, sweetheart?"

"What?" She whimpered, not moving from beneath the blanket.

"Has something happened?" He asked, wondering if there was a new reason for her crying.

"Mummy left." She started sobbing again, "She disappeared. I saw her and then she disappeared."

"Her data ghost?" He frowned. She nodded, clinging tightly to the picture in her arms. "...How exactly did she disappear? Did she just fade or... some other way?" Something didn't add up.

Amelia was too distraught to answer now, wailing into the blanket. He gathered her up into his arms, holding her as comfortingly as he could. "Hush now, lovie. It'll be alright, she'll come back."

"I want her to come back all the way. I don't want just her head to come back, I want her whole body to come back." She sobbed.

"I'm working on that." He murmured, rocking. The TARDIS by now had probably started to generate a body.

Arthur was starting to stir in Jack's arms, gurgling and drawing Amelia's attention. "How's he been?" The Doctor asked. The question was directed to both his daughter and Jack.

Jack shrugged, "Fine. A bit fussy, but all babies are like that I guess."

"Let me hold him." He said, quite glad at the moment that he spoke baby.

Jack gently placed the baby in his arms. Arthur stared up at his father with his big round eyes. "What happened to Mummy?" He questioned Arthur.

Arthur whined, saying that she had disappeared.

"I know, lovie, but how? In what way?"

He gurgled about there being lots of light, and then Mummy had gone. The Doctor frowned, the comment just about confirming his suspicions. "That's not how it should work."

Arthur began to cry, wanting River back.

"Sh, sh... It's okay." He held his son to his shoulder. "We'll get her back I promise you, we will." He reached over and got a bottle for him. "Jack I need your help with something..."

"What do you need?" He asked, sitting up.

"I think Missy took River." He murmured, not wanting Amelia to hear.

Jack frowned, "How? Why?"

"Because unlike me, she lives up to her title." He said a bit vaguely. "Manipulation is kind of her thing."

"What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to find Missy. If we find her, we find River. I doubt she'd go very far from what she's keeping her in."

Jack nodded slowly, "I'll do my best."

"Thank you. Really, it's more than I should ask from you." He smiled appreciatively.

Jack got up, leaving to the console room to use for his search. The Doctor moved back to Amelia's side knowing he had to comfort the girl. "We're going to get Mummy back. I'll bring back her mind and her body if I can."

"Really?" She sniffed, looking up at him.

He nodded, knowing she needed the hope, They both did. Hope was what got him and River through her last days. Hope was what had driven them forwards for such a long time, and it was what his daughter needed to pull through. "I've got a plan. And if it works, then yes."

"What if it doesn't work?" She asked quietly.

"Don't worry about that, now. I'll figure something out. Promise." He tried to sound assuring, though knew he shouldn't make promises.

Amelia curled up with her picture again, not saying anything else. He rubbed her back in a soothing motion, beginning to murmur an old lullaby. Amelia wiggled, holding the picture so she could look at it. He looked over the picture with her, lips still moving.

"When was this taken?" She interrupted.

He stopped singing, thinking for a moment. "I few months before you were born, I believe."

"What was she doing?"

"Reading to you and Freya." He replied, though it was only a guess. She might have been studying, or reading to herself.

"Did she do that a lot?"

"Yes." He nodded, this time more sincere.

"What else did she do?"

"Well, she'd tell you stories that weren't from books. Things from her past and things she made up." He reminisced.

"Can you tell me one of the stories she made up?" Amelia thought that hearing one of the stories would make her feel better.

He nodded, thinking for a moment. Most of the things she came up with were rather cheesy and childish, but gave her great delight to tell to her babies. He began one about a fairy queen. Amelia continued to stare at the picture as he told the story.

Freya woke near the end of the story, listening in quietly. Even Arthur was in a quiet trance. By the end of the story, Toby was curled up with Amelia, head resting against her arm so he could also look at River's picture.

"He misses her too." Freya murmured. Amelia nodded in agreement, patting the dog's head.

"We all miss her." He sighed. Toby leaned over to lick the glass of the frame.

"Don't do that." Amelia scolded, wiping away the saliva. "You'll smudge it."

Toby whimpered, then barked at her.

Amelia frowned. "She's not here right now." Toby whimpered again. "Stop it. It's not going to bring her back."

Freya mirrored her sister's expression. Toby began to back off, going to sit in the corner.

Amelia and Freya sat close for the first time in a while, seemly guarding River's picture together. Arthur whimpered, wanting to see River again. The Doctor re-positioned the baby in his arms so he could see the picture better. It was about all her could offer.

At that moment, the TARDIS materialized a screen on the wall and turned it on, showing a recent video of River. All eyes flicked up to the screen (expect Toby who was watching Arthur who had his eyes fixed on the picture of River). The video seemed to be a compilation of recent events, starting with the past Christmas when River had told the Doctor she was pregnant.

The Doctor frowned. "We didn't film that..."

The girls didn't seem to care, just happy to see their Mum again. They all watched as the Doctor on screen started to bubble with excitement and began talking to River's belly. River's face was more lively than it had been in the past couple months and was full of nothing but love. The screen switched to River and the Doctor cuddling up in bed a few weeks later. Amelia wondered onto the screen, crawling up into the bed with her parents.

Amelia held the picture tighter, one of her hands latching onto her father's jacket sleeve. "I remember that." She whispered, enviously watching herself get to cuddle with her mummy.

The next clip was when River and the Doctor were telling the girls they would be getting another little sibling. The video jumped to the night of the party they had when they had gotten the TARDIS back.

Amelia and the Doctor exchanged emotions as this was the night that he and River found out about that she was going to die. The screen showed the dancing, the moment of blind happiness that they thought could never be taken away. The married couple in the video danced like it was their wedding night.

The screen suddenly turned off, showing static for a bit, and then turning back on. There was a new video on, but the same night, showing the Doctor and River crying in the console room after they had dropped their friends off.

The Doctor frowned, not wanting the girls to see their sadness.

"I love you, so, so much... I don't want to lose you." His virtual self had his wife in his arms.

"I know." River clung to him, "I know. I need you to know, I love you more than anything, but if something happens, you need to think of the girls, okay? They'll need you more than ever, and you need to be there for them 100%, do you understand me?"

Both Doctor's nodded, the present one remembering her words and expression as clear as day. It was a promise he made to her constantly and now more than ever was time to uphold it as best he could.

Amelia hid her face against the Doctor once more, getting upset all over again. He wrapped his arm around her, wondering if there was another reason the TARDIS was showing them this, or is it was even the TARDIS's doing at all.

The screen flashed the word 'Make' before cutting to another scene. This time, the Doctor and River were fighting.

"Stop this." The Doctor muttered, not wanting his children to see nor to be reminded of how River had pushed him away for weeks. "Cut visual feed to this room."

The video cut out, then flashed back on. The word 'room' flashed across the screen, then showed Amelia unconscious after she had nearly drowned.

Amelia started crying and the Doctor's stomach knotted. This couldn't be the TARDIS's work. All the previous video feed had been from the TARDIS because she could see -'see' being a loose term for it- what had been going on. But this, Amelia's drowning, the TARDIS hadn't come until the end, and there was no way this feed was from her.

The word "for" appeared on the screen, and the video of River just hours before she died, when she had been vomiting blood.

The twins buried their faces half in terror of what they saw and half in raw distress, but the Doctor couldn't look away. "Make room for what?"

Just as he said that, "Auntie Missy!" flashed across the screen.