The water from the shower was running and the door to the bathroom closed, indicating that was where the Doctor was. River decided to wait for him, sitting near the bathroom door, playing with a puzzle with Arthur.
The boy was delighted in the game, clapping and squealing periodically. The Doctor eventually emerged from the bathroom, towel wrapped around his waist. River's eyes remained on his face, not wandering as they usually would have at the sight of him in a towel.
He blinked at her, surprised to see her waiting there. "Did you... need to shower, too?"
"No." She whispered, "I wanted to talk."
"Oh." He wiped the wet hair from his eyes.
Her eyes looked tired and sad, her face not expressing much different, "I'm sorry."
He blinked some more as he registered the words. "You're sorry?" He thought he was the one supposed to be apologizing to her.
"I'm sorry that this is happening now." She nodded.
"Yeah." He nodded. "Me, too." He wouldn't have liked for it to have happened at all, but the timing was pointing him towards the hypothesis Vastra had reached. "
We...should tell the girls." She whispered.
"I don't- Not yet. Eventually, but I think it's too soon." Telling the girls, to him, made it that much more real. That much of a solid, one-way path leading River away from them.
River sighed, hating that this was happening, wishing he would find a way to convince her to stay with him. "We can't hide it for too long."
"It's not- I really don't think, i-it's only..." He snapped his mouth shut and took a breath to stop his stupid bubbling and make full sentences. "I think that right now neither of us are on solid ground, let alone common ground... we ought to find that first."
"And how do you propose we do that?" She asked.
"Um, more talking." He rubbed the back of his neck. "We need to communicate, really properly communicate with each other. The misunderstandings are probably more irritating for you that they are for me..." He coughed. "We're, uh, we're pulling at each other in opposite directions. There needs to be more leeway, more compromise... communication." He repeated.
She nodded slowly, looking down at the baby.
"Do you need me to take him?" He asked, wondering if she wanted a little time to herself.
She shook her head, "No, we're fine."
"He's been alright then?"
She nodded, "Yeah."
He shifted his feet for a moment. "I'm going to go get dressed."
She nodded slowly, "Okay."
"I'm going to make some tea after. Do you want some?"
"Sure." She went back to playing with Arthur. The Doctor went off to change.
Arthur took one of his puzzle blocks and tried to jam it into the wrong shaped cut-out hole.
"Close, but not quite." River murmured. He tried again, though didn't try a different hole. River laughed softly, "Try another one, my love."
He huffed, the action looking a bit like he was deflating. He followed her instruction with no less force into the correct hole, but accidentally crushed his own finger and started wailing.
"Oh! Arthur." River immediately scooped him up, wrapping her arms around him and going to inspect his finger, "It's alright. You're alright." She kissed the small finger, holding him closely. The skin was starting to bruise and Arthur was no less distressed by it, even with her affection. "How about we get some ice for you." She murmured, a bit concerned by the bruising.
She brought him to the kitchen, continuing to kiss his finger and his head in comfort.
The Doctor came down shortly, looking concerned at the wailing tot. "What happened?"
"He crushed his finger when he put a puzzle piece in," River informed, concentrated on getting the baby's tears to stop.
"Have you gotten ice?" He stepped closer, looking at Arthur.
She nodded, "He doesn't like it. It's too cold for him."
"Let me try something." He went and fetched a paper towel, running it under cold water and wringing it out. "Here. Try this instead."
She wrapped the cool towel around Arthur's bruised finger, brushing tears from his cheeks. The boy choked on a few more sobs, nuzzling into her shirt and starting to calm a little.
"Oh, thank goodness." River whispered, kissing the top of his head, "Thank you."
The Doctor gave a small smile. "Poor thing probably got a little too excited with his toys."
She nodded, "I guess so." She gave Arthur another kiss on the forehead, rubbing his back.
He whimpered, soft light starting to emit from beneath the paper towel. River stared at the light, hearts stopping, "No, Arthur, no, don't do that!"
He blinked up at her, the light fading as soon she said so. He'd stopped crying, though, only sniffling from his previous tears.
River couldn't find her words. She had never watched one of her children do that, and even though Arthur had only been doing it to heal his finger, not because he was dying, the sight still pulled at her heart.
"I... think you can remove the towel now." The Doctor broke the silence, staring as well.
She swallowed, still not moving. He slowly took a step towards her, carefully unwrapping Arthur's finger, which now looked perfectly fine. Arthur promptly stuck the digit into his mouth.
River squeezed her eyes shut, holding him tighter. "Mnng." Arthur adjusted himself.
"Should I put the kettle on?" The Doctor offered.
"If you want." She murmured.
He set up the tea. "...You should sit." River nodded, sitting slowly. "He's alright now." The Doctor murmured. "Arthur's just fine." She nodded again, looking as if she'd hardly heard him.
Arthur blinked up at her, tears dried by this point. River sighed, head in her free hand. "Mah!" Arthur grabbed one of her curls.
"Arthur..." She sighed, removing the hair from his hand.
He pouted and the Doctor chuckled softly. "I remember when the girls went through that phase."
She hummed, not sounding as amused as he was.
Eventually, the water for the tea was ready and the man prepared two cups for them.
"I'll pick up the girls today." River murmured.
He nodded. Arthur tried to grab at River's cup of tea. "I'll watch Arthur then."
"Okay." She murmured, holding the cup out of the baby's reach.
There was another moment of quiet, filled with Arthur's efforts to make his arms stretch towards the cup.
"So, um, I was thinking about Arthur's birthday."
"Oh?" River turned her head slightly to indicate she was listening.
"The girls want to have a little party for him, I think we should take him out to that flower garden on Vaetir, too."
"That would be nice." She nodded, "He'll like that."
"Maybe, maybe we could get Clara to watch the girls and we could bring him there."
"You don't want to take the girls?"
He shrugged and looked at a spot on the table. "I just thought Arthur could get overwhelmed, and we always do two things with the girls so we should with him. It's his special day, you know? It'll be easier to focus on him."
"Oh..." She murmured, "Well, if that's what you want to do."
"I- that's why I'm asking you. You've got half the say."
"Well, it's a nice idea, but I'm worried about how the girls will feel about it." She sighed, "We took Arthur when we went out for their birthday, and with Terra coming… I worry that they'll feel less and less important if we don't include them."
"Alright, that's a good point. Let's bring them, then."
"Do you mean that or are you just saying it to make me happy because lying isn't going to make any of this better."
He looked at her, wondering how she'd react if he had been the one to say that to her. "I'm saying it because I think you're right, River."
She relaxed a bit. "Oh..."
"Foowah!" Arthur declared, having given up reaching for the tea.
"Shhh." River hushed him.
"He's just saying that he's excited about the flowers." The Doctor informed her.
River resisted glaring at him. "Arthur do you want Mummy to take you to the playground?" He waved his arms excitedly and made an approving noise. "Alright." She smiled, kissing his temple, "Let's go then."
"Do you want company?" He offered.
"If you want." She shrugged.
"We'll bring Toby." He added. She nodded, going to get Arthur's stroller.
Soon enough, the three and the dog were all on their way to the playground. River was quiet for most of the walk, not looking at the Doctor. Toby and Arthur were absolutely delighted, neither able to keep very still.
When they got there, Arthur was set in the sandbox, Toby digging beside him. River sat with the two, making sure Toby didn't fling any sand into Arthur's face. The Doctor also sat watching the three, offering Arthur a small plastic trowel.
Arthur soon decided that he wanted to bury Toby in the sand, trying to pile it up on top of the dog. The Doctor chuckled as Toby sat obediently, accepting the sand shower with a wagging tail.
Arthur giggled as the dog's feet began to disappear beneath a mound of sand. The dog leaned over and licked his cheek. River sucked in a breath, putting a hand to her side.
"You alright?" The Doctor asked.
"Fine." She muttered.
"She kicking?" He tried. She nodded, removing the hand.
"Ama?" Arthur looked up at River. "Yaya?"
"They're at school, love."
Arthur looked concentrated, trying to figure out what that was. Giving up, he asked for them again.
"They'll be here soon." She assured.
He accepted this answer, reaching for her. "Up!" River scooped him up, nuzzling his cheek. He made a gleeful sound and Toby stood to sniff at him.
Arthur kicked his feet, accidentally kicking the dog in the process. "Oh, Arthur! Careful!" River reached out to pat the dog's head in comfort.
"I don't think a one-year-old can do terribly much damage to him." The Doctor glanced between the two.
"Well, he still hurt him." River murmured, "I don't think it's very pleasant to get a kick in the face."
"No, I suppose not." He nodded.
River scratched behind Toby's ears, then brought Arthur over to the swings. Arthur kicked wildly once in the baby swing, his attempts to get it moving. River stood behind him, pushing the swing gently. Toby ran back and forth under the swing in time with it, chasing Arthur's feet.
They played until it was time to get the girls. River put Arthur back in the stroller, heading for the school. The Doctor split up and took Toby home.
Arthur was delighted to see his sisters, though the other parents stared rather disdainfully at River, suspicious of her return. River tried to ignore the stares that only made her feel worse.
When the Doctor got back to the flat, the phone was ringing. He let Toby off his leash, dodging around him to get to the kitchen phone. "Hello?"
"Oh, good. Hello, Doctor." Vastra was on the other line.
"Vastra." He shooed the dog off so he could give her is attention. "What can I help you with?"
"I wanted to talk to you about River if you don't mind."
"Um, yeah. That's fine, I guess." He agreed.
"Well, I'm rather concerned for her health."
"Oh?" He immediately sounded more concerned.
"Well, she hasn't had a stress free moment this entire pregnancy. I just fear for the health effects that all the stress she has been feeling."
He nodded. "I should have noticed." He didn't know how to make it less stressful, though. His mere presence around River seemed to make her uncomfortable. "Do you suggest anything?"
Vastra sighed, "I can't say I have any suggestions." She murmured, "I just wanted to make sure you were aware."
"Thank you. Maybe I'll try a spa thing? I don't think she wants to really sit and not do much, but it might be worth a shot."
"Of course." She agreed.
"Alright." He sighed worriedly. "We'll see how that goes. I don't know how much I can promise since we're sort of... well I don't know what we are but I can see it isn't stress-free. Thanks for calling."
"Don't mention it." Vastra murmured, bidding him goodbye and hanging up.
He sighed and put the phone back on the receiver, standing there for a moment as he thought about all the things he ought to do. (Or wished he could do). Eventually, he went to the TARDIS and dematerialized from the house.
