"Sorry for leaving him alone, Mummy." The girls apologized as River put their brother on the bed.
"It's alright." River breathed, going back to sit on the bed.
"Look at my tooth." Amalia insisted.
River watched Amelia wiggle her tooth, smiling, "Well, I think the tooth fairy will be visiting us very soon."
"I'm gonna get a gold coin!"
River smiled, "Yes, how exciting."
"Girls, Mummy and I got you a present when we were out." The Doctor remembered.
"Really? Can we have we?"
"Should be waiting in your room." He nodded. They jumped off the bed and ran to their room, eager to see their surprise.
"Dess!" Arthur enthused.
River laughed, "Yes, they're getting their dresses." He giggled, reaching for one of her curls. "No, no pulling." River moved her hair back so he couldn't reach it.
He pouted but was quickly distracted when his sister kicked. River winced, finding it quite uncomfortable when Terra kicked. "Taya!" Arthur beamed, pressing his hands against her belly. River watched him, not speaking.
The girls came back squealing and changed into their dresses. "Thank you, thank you!"
"You're very welcome." River beamed.
They gave a few spins. "These are the bestest dresses ever!"
"I'm glad you're enjoying them so much." River smiled, "Perhaps you can wear them out if we go to dinner for my birthday."
They nodded. "When are we going to the flower gardens?"
"I'm not sure, my loves." She sighed.
"Can we go on Wednesday? We have a half day on Wednesday."
"If you really want to we can." She nodded.
"Yay!" Freya cheered.
"Fooowahs!"
River laughed, "Flowers!" She echoed.
"Can I pick them and make a flower crown?" Amelia asked.
"Well, we'll see. We don't want to hurt the flowers by picking them."
She nodded quickly to show her understanding while Arthur tried to echo the word again.
The family spent the rest of the afternoon talking and planning their upcoming day trip, almost forgetting about the earlier upset.
"What do you lot want for dinner?" The Doctor asked when it was close to that time.
"Chicken and Rice." Amelia requested as Freya said, "Soup and crackers."
"What if we did chicken soup with rice and crackers?" He tried to compromise.
They both nodded, "Okay!"
"River, sound good to you?"
She nodded as well, "Sounds excellent."
"I'll start cooking then." He gave them all a kiss.
"I can help if you need." River offered.
He shook his head. "I've got it. I'll give a shout if I need you. I'll call you all down when it's ready." He gave her another kiss.
She nodded, kissing him back.
"Mummy, what's your favorite flower?" Amelia asked as the Doctor headed downstairs.
"My favorite flower? Hmm, well I'd say that it must be peonies."
"What do those look like?"
"Well, they're most commonly pink and they have lots and lots of big, fluffy petals that bloom to make a flower bigger than your hands."
"Oh, I know those!" Freya grinned. "They grow at school."
River smiled, "You know your Daddy used to buy them for me all the time."
"How come?"
"Well, because he knew that they made me happy."
"Does no not give you flowers anymore?" She asked.
"Not really." River smiled softly.
"How come?" Amelia frowned.
She shrugged, "I don't really know. That's a question you'd have to ask him."
"Maybe because he has other ways of making you happy now."
"Yes, that could be it."
"I like the yellow ones with the pointy petals and they look like they're playing the trumpet." Amelia said, going back to the flowers.
"Well, perhaps we'll see them when we go to the garden." River gave her a small smile.
"Don't you have a picture of Granmum with all those sunflowers?"
"Yes, it's somewhere in my box."
"Can we look?" Frey asked.
"If you want to we can."
Freya jumped up to get the box, Arthur curiously reaching for it when she gave it to River. River carefully went through the box, pulling out the picture that Amelia had mentioned.
"Gammuh!" Arthur said gleefully when he saw it.
"Yes, there's grandma." River smiled.
The girls huddled around so they could see. "Her hair's even redder there!"
"You think so?"
"Well in the dream candle place her hair is getting grayish."
River nodded. "Well, she's also much younger here than she is when we use the dream candle."
"Did she really like sunflowers?" Freya asked.
"Well, sunflowers were special for her because they reminded her of a friend." River explained.
"What friend?" They asked, hoping to get a good story.
River told the story of Amy and Vincent Van Gogh, telling them about the sunflowers, the alien, and the paintings. The Doctor came upstairs near the end, leaning in the doorway as to not interrupt.
"I believe it's time for dinner." River said as the story ended.
The Doctor smiled and nodded. "Yes, it is."
She shooed the girls downstairs, but Amelia stopped at her father's feet. He looked down at her. "Alright there, lovie?"
"Mummy said you don't buy her flowers anymore. Why not?"
He hadn't been expecting that question. "Well, I used to get her more when we didn't get to see each other all the time so it was a bit like an 'until the next time' promise to her. But now we live together and I see her all the time."
"Oh. So she doesn't need them anymore?" She asked, looking between her parents.
"No, it's not that. I still get them for her once in awhile. There are just a lot of other ways for us to tell each other we'll always be here for the other." He smiled softly at River. River smiled back at him.
"That's what I guessed!" Amelia smiled.
He ruffled her hair. "Down to supper now, dearie." She hopped down the stairs to join her sister.
The Doctor went to help River out of bed. "The girls wanted to hear about Vincent?"
"They wanted to know the story behind Amy and the sunflowers." She nodded. As she stood, the forgotten picture box on her lap fell to the ground, pictures falling out and littering the bedroom floor.
"Oh dear." He got down and started to collect the pictures up. River got down as well, retrieving the box. Arthur watched them from the bed. "I hope these weren't in a particular order."
"They weren't really. They were all a bit scattered." She began placing a few of the pictures back into the box.
The Doctor went to retrieve the hard-to-reach ones that had gotten under the bed and dresser. Beneath the bed was a small notebook, lodged between the mattress and the slats of the bed frame.
The Doctor frowned when he felt it, pulling it out. "Riv? What's this?"
"What's what?" She asked, looking up, eyes widening when she saw the book, "That's mine."
"It's not your diary." He murmured, looking at the front cover. It was brown and leathery. "Why were you hiding it?"
"Can I have it, please." She whispered, holding out her hand, ignoring his questions.
He gave it back to her. "What is it?"
"Nothing." She murmured, taking it quickly and holding it close.
"I... alright. If you say so." If she'd been hiding it, it was obviously something she didn't want him seeing, or at the least wasn't ready for him to see. Though he was extremely curious, he took the cue to back off.
River quickly collected the pictures around her, obviously uneasy now. They got all the pictures gathered and went down with Arthur to dinner. River lingered behind for a minute to re-hide her book, but soon joined the rest of the family.
The Doctor had put bowls of soup at all the place settings and Arthur in his high chair. River sat quietly at her place setting, eating the soup.
"Mummy?" Freya asked after a few moments of silent eating. "Why are my hearts different from the other kids' hearts?"
River's eyes flickered up to meet her daughter's, "You know why, my love." They had explained the difference many times before.
"But why did it make the nurse to scared?"
"Because people at school don't know you're a Timelord. It's our secret remember?"
"I don't like hiding anymore."
River frowned. "Freya, we have to."
"Or else people get scared and mean." She echoed vaguely what her parents had told her many times. "But I'm not scary and mean..."
"I know that my love, but people are afraid of the things that they don't understand and unfortunately they don't understand us yet."
"So why don't we just tell them and make them understand and then they'll like us?"
"Because some people don't want to understand. It's hard to explain, my love."
Freya stared at her soup.
"I'm sorry," River whispered.
It took her a moment to look back up at her mother. "We go all over everywhere and there are so many different aliens and people and stuff and..." Freya sniffed. "You brought me to places where a Kalher and a Zocci lived in the same place. Auntie Vastra and Auntie Jenny and Uncle Strax all live together. And all the humans on other planets don't care if we're different."
River looked at the Doctor, not knowing what to say.
He made an attempt to explain, "Yes, dearie. Humans learn in the future about us and all the other trillions of species that live in this universe. They'll learn about the good ones and bad ones and they'll evolve and accept and grow. But, lovie, that doesn't happen for a little while. Everyone has a starting point and humans start here on Earth thinking they're the only ones there ever were or will be. They'll learn that they're wrong, and I'm sorry, but they don't learn for a few decades and we can't push that."
"Well, why do we have to live here then?!" Freya threw her spoon on the table.
"This is when Uncle Jack and Auntie Clara live. This is when your grandparents were for a very long time and this is where Mummy spent a lot of her time in her last regeneration. We're safe here." He tried to sooth.
"We'd be safe in the future too! Then we wouldn't hafta hide! I want to show my friends all the cool places we go! I don't want to scare the nurse!" She was both sad and angry, crossing her arms.
He wanted to tell her that the secrets and hiding were what made them safe, that half the universe would be after them if they knew where the family of the last Timelords held residence. He didn't, though, because it was also exactly what made them cut off from the human community they tried so hard to blend in with. "Maybe one day, love. But we can't."
Freya stayed quiet, crying now. The Doctor got up from his seat and lifted her up, holding her against his chest.
She cried against his chest. He rubbed her back in a comforting manner. "Freya, would it make you feel better if you made some friends from other planets?"
She nodded slowly. "Maybe."
"We could probably find a programme for kids your age that had kids from all sorts of planets. And we can pick a day of the week to go. You won't have to hide and you can tell all about our adventures."
"Can Mia and Arthur come too?" She asked.
"Mia can. I'm not sure Arthur can, he might have to be a little older."
"Will we get to have three birthday parties then? One with our family, one with our school friends and one with our other planet friends!"
He chuckled. "I don't know, lovie. Maybe."
She was starting to feel better, wanting to go back to eating her soup. He put her back in her seat.
"Amelia, what do you think about that?"
Amelia nodded, liking the idea, though her mouth was full of food.
"Riv?"
River looked much less pleased, though she didn't immediately disagree, "I think we need to talk about this more a bit later."
He nodded. "And I ought to clear us up with the school."
"Yes, you ought to."
"After dinner." He murmured.
They went back to eating.
