Downstairs, the girls had gotten a few dishes back to the kitchen and the Doctor was back, cleaning up the wrapping paper. River washed the dishes, putting them back in their rightful place in the cabinet.
It didn't take too long to get everything tidied up. All the dishes got cleaned and food put away, the girls escaping upstairs as soon as they were told they didn't have to help anymore.
River sat on the couch with a relieved sigh, putting her feet up on the coffee table. The Doctor sat next to her. "That went well."
"Yes it did, but I'm sorry I was so tired for the whole thing."
"I think you did just fine." He placed a quick kiss on her head.
She smiled softly, then attempted to do the sign for thank you, though she didn't exactly do it right. River had finally started learning sign language a week ago, though she was having a lot of difficulty picking it up, which was unlike her. (The family suspected it was simply her nerves getting the better of her.)
The Doctor had been trying to be very supportive of her, reassuring and not too crowding. He gently reached for her hands and adjusted them to how they were supposed to be.
"Ah, right." River sighed.
"You're doing good." He encouraged. "You'll get the hang of it in no time."
"I hope you're right." She muttered.
"Don't fret about it. It's alright not to have it under your belt right away."
"Yes but I've never had this much trouble learning languages before. I don't understand why it's happening now."
He didn't voice his theory about it, rubbing her arm instead. "Sign Language is a visual language, it's different from any other thing you might have had to learn. You've only just started, so, of course, you need practice. You'll soon be amazing at it."
She sighed again, resting her head against his arm, "The girls picked it up right away."
"Young minds absorb new information like a sponge." He reminded. "And they still have much more to learn."
"Yes, I suppose you're right."
"We can practice now if you'd like."
She hesitated, "I suppose if you want."
"Do the family signs with me." He urged. The first things he'd been trying to teach her were things like 'mother', 'father', 'daughter', and so on.
River tried to do the signs, though she messed up the majority of them. He adjusted her hands each time, trying to keep encouraging her. She did her best to hide her frustration.
After what felt like the 100th correction she closed her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh.
The Doctor stopped. "Maybe enough for now?" She nodded. "Alright." He said gently, "That was good."
"No, it wasn't. Please don't pretend."
"It was a good effort at the least, and that counts for a lot."
"But a good effort isn't going to help me communicate with our daughter."
"She won't be born signing, love. She still has to learn to do it, just like Arthur's learning to talk. There are lots of ways to communicate with her."
"But if we want her to learn quickly, we all have to be signing all the time and if I don't know how..." She buried her head in her hands, "It's just going to be another setback."
"River, she doesn't need to know that many words that fast. Arthur's one and he only knows a handful of things. It's not the end of the world if she learns any slower or faster." He tried to sooth.
She took a breath to keep from shaking, "I just don't want to be the reason that she struggles."
He wrapped his arm around her. "You won't be."
"You don't know that."
"You don't know that this won't all click by tomorrow, either." He pointed out.
"That's true, but judging by the way it's been going, it's highly unlikely."
He sighed. "I know it's frustrating, but I have faith that you'll get there soon."
"I'm sorry." She whispered.
"It's alright. really, it is. How about some tea to get your mind off things?"
"No, I'm fine. I just want to sit."
He stayed with her.
"We need to finish the nursery soon." She murmured.
He nodded. "It's coming along. Should we work on that tomorrow?"
She nodded, "Did you finish all the painting?"
"Yes."
She took his hand and squeezed it lightly, "Good, at least that's done then."
"I suppose we do have to have everything ready soon."
She swallowed, a flash of worry briefly filling her eyes, "Yes, it could be any day now. Judging by the last four times, our children have a fondness for coming a bit early."
"And quickly." He added, not catching her expression. "Labors tend to be faster the more children you have."
"Well, it's certainly a shame I have a new body then." She smiled weakly.
"Oh yeah! I guess it won't be that fast then if she's the first child you've had in this body."
"First and last."
He nodded. "Four is plenty."
"Four..." She repeated, her voice tinged with disbelief.
"We couldn't have known the girls would be twins." He chuckled. "I always wanted a big family."
"I never thought I was going to have a family. For a while, I didn't even think I had you."
He looked at her. "You'll always have me."
She smiled, "I know that now."
"Good." He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. She smiled at him.
The girls came down a little while later, having decided it was safe and they wouldn't be made to do more chores.
River was tracing Terra's movements with her hand. Over the past few weeks, her relationship with the baby had been strengthening, and though it wasn't up to the standards that it probably should have been, it was better than it had been before.
"Is she kicking?" Freya asked when she saw River's hand on her belly. "I wanna feel!"
"Alright, come close." She beckoned her daughter over, "Remember to tell her who you are." She guided the girl's hand to her sister's feet.
Freya spelled out her name on River's skin, then pressed her hand flat. River watched her daughter, waiting until there was a kick, "Did you feel that?"
Freya grinned up at River and nodded.
"My turn, my turn!" Amelia insisted.
"Alright, come on." River showed her to the same spot. Terra was quicker to kick, this time, both girls giggling.
"Are you excited to have another sister?" She asked.
Both of them nodded. "Yes!"
"Good, I'm glad."
Amelia looked up at her mum, climbing up on the couch. "Mummy?"
"Yes, dear?" River looked at her.
"Are you and Terra gonna be okay?"
"What do you mean?" Her brow furrowed.
"Well... 'cause when you had our brothers..." She paused, looking down. The girls had never experienced the birth of a sibling where both mother and child survived.
"Yes. We've run many many tests and they're all coming back saying Terra and I will both be just fine. I've already told you that, remember." River tapped her nose. She knew her daughters were worried, and she was doing her best to try and ease that fear.
"But sometimes things change all of a sudden." She hugged River.
"Yes, sometimes they do, but the other times, when I had your brothers..." She tried to find her words, "It was different. It was the Silence's fault that… all of those things happened. We're safe this time."
Amelia nodded, burying her head against her mother. River rubbed Amelia's back, looking at the Doctor to see if he had some words that would be more comforting than hers had been.
He spoke up, "I promise you, dearie, we'll let you know if anything happens. We're very prepared this time."
"I don't want our family to get broken again." She whispered.
"We'll all be together, pinky promise."
Amelia sniffed and curled into River's side. Freya crawled up to hug Rivers other side
"I think we should share some hugs with Daddy too." River murmured, though she wrapped her arms around them.
The Doctor joined in the cuddle, wrapping his arm around the group. River melted into the hug, liking her family surrounding her, "Doctor?"
"Yes, my love?"
"Do we still have time left on the candle Vastra gave us that Christmas?"
"Not much, but yes I believe so." He nodded.
"Can we use it?"
"Now? Are you positive?"
She nodded, "I want to talk to them, today." They hadn't used the candle since right after Arthur had been born.
He nodded. "Girls? What do you think about talking to grandad and grandmum?"
"Can Arthur talk too?" They immediately asked.
"Sure. He's napping right now, though."
"But we have to take a nap to talk to them anyway, so he already has a head start!" Freya pointed out.
"Let's do it in his room then so we don't wake him." He suggested.
The girls scrambled up and ran to Arthur's room. The Doctor stood and helped his wife up. She slowly climbed the stairs with his help.
The girls had already settled themselves in Arthur's room.
"I'll get the candle." The Doctor hummed.
River nodded, sitting the rocking chair so she wouldn't get a backache.
The Doctor returned to the room with the candle and Toby, settling with the girls. "Ready?"
They all nodded. He soniced the candle on, smoke lifting from the flame. River reached for his hand, breathing deeply. He squeezed her hand as they all slipped unconscious.
River's eyes slowly opened and tried to focus on the scene before her. The girls immediately cried out happily when they saw their grandparents.
Amy and Rory sat in front of them, old and plump and smiling. The girls jumped up and ran to give them hugs, distracting them as River stood to go wait for her turn to hug them as well.
Arthur was in a high chair next to Amy, playing with his whale that had made it into the dream.
"Oh my, you've all grown so much!" Amy looked at all her grandkids.
"It's Arthur's birthday today!" Amelia chirped.
"Is it?" The older Amelia scooped up her grandson. "How old are you now?"
"Lulu!" He showed her the whale.
"He's one." River answered the question for him as the girls went to attack their Grandfather.
Amy laughed looked at her daughter. She gasped and make a squeal-like noise of excitement. "Another one?"
River smiled softly "Yes, another one."
"Ooh, boy or girl? Do you have a name? Details please!"
She laughed, going to say hi to Rory, "Patience, mum."
Rory hugged River over the girls who were attached to his legs. "Hey there, River."
"Hello." She smiled as she hugged him, then went to sit back down.
"How've you all been?"
"Well, we've been very busy." River murmured, glancing at the Doctor. He took his wife's hand and offered an assuring smile. "The girls are loving school."
"And look! We even know sign language now!" They signed the words grandmum and grandpa, beaming proudly.
"How cool! Where'd you learn that?" Rory asked.
"Daddy showed us so we'll be able to talk to our baby sister."
"It's a girl?" Amy was too pleased to register the other part, but it caught Rory's attention.
He looked at River. River's eyes met Rory's then quickly darted away, ''Yes, we're going to name her Terra, after the Doctor's mum." She gave them a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"That's a lovely name," Rory said, voice warm.
"We like it a lot," River said.
"Are you girls excited to have a little sister?"
They nodded, "We're going to take her to school for show and tell and all of our friends are going to meet her and we're going to teach everyone sign language."
"What a plan." Rory smiled.
"When are you due?" Amy asked.
"Two weeks." River murmured.
"You've got to save a little time here so we can see her." She insisted.
River nodded, "We will."
"So, what have you done for your birthday?" Amy cooed at Arthur.
"Birday!" He answered, waving the whale in the air.
"We had a little party." The Doctor added.
"That must have been loads of fun." Amy bounced him.
"Booga!" He babbled, sticking the whale's tail in his mouth. "Puppy."
"He's learning so fast," Rory commented.
River smiled and nodded, "He's very bright."
"Are you going to send him to school with the girls when he's old enough?"
She nodded, "Yes, of course."
"Will he be in my class?" Amelia asked.
"No, sweetheart." River shook her head, "He won't be in the same class as you, but he'll probably have the same teacher."
"When will he come?"
"In a few years, when he's your age."
"Will Terra come too?"
River frowned slightly, "Well...no, probably not. She's going to go to a different school."
"Aw, but how come?" Freya pouted.
"Because...she..." She looked to the Doctor.
"Because no one signs in hearing schools." The Doctor said. River's gaze shifted to the floor.
"So there's a special school for deaf people?" Freya clarified.
River nodded, "Yes, there is."
"But I wanted to eat lunch together."
"We'll talk about this later." She whispered, turning her attention back to her parents.
"It's alright," Amy said, "Your sister will be just fine there."
"But she'll be all by herself."
"She'll make new friends just like you did." She assured.
"But won't it be scary? I had Mia and even I was scared."
"All new things can be scary, but I'm sure you can teach her to be brave like you."
Freya thought about it, then nodded.
"There we are, then." Amy smiled and looked back up at River.
"Thank you." River murmured.
Her smile became softer. "No problem."
After a short while of talking, Amelia and Freya decided they wanted their parents to see the school play that they did some months ago. Thinking up costumes, they re-enacted their scene for the group.
Amy and Rory cheered after each scene, and Arthur was greatly entertained by the costumes.
"Mia!" Arthur cheered when Amelia popped up from beneath the table, which had been designated as "backstage."
Amy contained the wiggling tot in her lap as Amelia marched on 'stage' and delivered her lines. The girls finished up with their play, taking large bows.
"Oh, that was lovely!" Amy praised. "When was the school performance?"
"A couple months ago." Freya beamed.
"And you remembered all that?" Rory asked.
"Yeah! We practiced for forever!"
"Brilliant, you two are. Just like your mum."
"You should see the crown that Mummy got from a king! It's so pretty!" Amelia cried, the comment reminding her of her mother's accomplishment.
"Crown?" The ponds looked at her expectantly.
"Oh, yes this." River thought up the Crown so it would appear on the table.
"She tricked a king!" Freya added.
"When I grow up I want to be just like Mummy." Amelia smiled.
Rory ruffled her hair. "You've already got the hair for it."
She bounced over to River and hugged her tightly. "Mummy, can I help next time you go to trick a king?"
"We'll see." River smiled, stroking her daughter's curls. "I don't know if Daddy will be very happy with that."
"He can help too!" She insisted.
"We'll see dearie." The Doctor murmured. "We've got a lot else to do besides swindle kings."
River swallowed and shifted uncomfortably in her chair.
"Flower gardens today." He reminded to distract at least one of them. Neither River nor Amelia responded, the air tense.
"That sounds like fun." Amy tried to help defuse the tension. "Are you girls excited for that?"
They nodded, "We love going to see flowers."
"Have you ever been to this garden before?"
They shook their heads, "No, not yet."
"I'm sure you must be excited too, huh birthday boy?" Amy waggled a finger at her grandson.
He giggled and grabbed at her finger, "Mumma!"
"Do you want to be held by your Mummy?" She smiled. He didn't reply, stick the digit in his mouth. Amy laughed. "Oh, River, he is just the most adorable thing!"
River laughed softly, "Thank you, he certainly is."
They fell into easy conversation, the Ponds wanting to hear all about their daughter's life.
They ended the visit with enough time left for another once Terra was born, bidding bittersweet goodbyes. The little cafe in the dream world faded away until they were back in the nursery.
