Jack had been gone barely a minute when footsteps sounded up the stairs of the abandoned apartment. The door to the little bedroom opened and a tall man with gray hair and a magician's coat entered, moving to River's side.
River hardly noticed, slipping in and out of focus. She opened her eyes, his form blurry for a minute. When he finally came into focus, she frowned, "Go away."
"Now River Song, if I leave you here you could very well bleed out." Said the Scottish man.
"Jack's coming back and you know it." She hissed.
"I do, but I have a hankering that you don't want to go with him."
"I don't want to go with you either." She frowned.
"Is it the eyebrows?" He asked.
She rolled her eyes.
"I can bring you some place much safer than here. I can help you."
"I already told you, I'm not coming, so unless you plan on kidnapping me, you're out of luck."
He sighed, then reached under her and scooped her up. "Option two it is then."
She yelped, the noise half pained half surprised. He brought her down the stairs and out of the building to the closest ally way where there was a familiar blue box.
"You do realize my last comment wasn't an invitation for a kidnapping."
"The definition of kidnapping doesn't involve mutual consent, so I suspected it wasn't one." He nodded, bringing her into the old box.
"Jack's going to have a heart attack when he comes back and I'm not there."
"I'll go and leave him a note."
The console room was much more metallic than what it used to be, the controls and wall neater. He brought her down quiet halls to the med bay and set her down on a cot before turning to leave a note for Jack.
"No." She whispered, grabbing his arm, "Don't leave."
"Alright. I do have to get you some blood unless the other side of the room is too far away for you."
"No, go." She released his arm, "It looks different in here."
"Got bored with the old layout." He said, going to retrieve a few units of blood for her.
She nodded slowly, "Where are our children?"
"Now that would be spoilers, wouldn't it." He replied. "Hold out your arm."
She held her arm out for him, glaring, "Where's the dog?"
He started an I.V. "A version of your husband from god knows how far in the future turns up at your door and you ask about the dog?"
"Are you going to answer the question or not?"
He sighed. "He died a few years ago."
"Oh..." She breathed. She had asked to get an idea of how far into the future he was, not because she was terribly concerned about the dog, but hearing that he was dead sunk her spirit a bit. "Sorry..."
"It's alright. It was peaceful." He murmured.
"Spoilers..." She looked down at the floor.
"You're allowed to know at least that much." He'd rather fix a peaceful death in time than a painful one.
"Why didn't you warn me earlier?"
"About what?" He asked, sitting on the edge of the cot.
"That Terra was going to come."
"Because I already knew I hadn't." He said.
"You could have changed what happened." She sighed, "Because you know I didn't want it to happen like that. You could have at least let one thing go right for me during this pregnancy because everything else went wrong."
"Not absolutely everything, but many things I suppose." He gave it quiet acknowledgment, though in his opinion it had gone a lot better than with Arthur or William. "River if I had warned you to go back to the TARDIS and give birth somewhere safe, then I wouldn't have anything to warn you about in the future and would never have done so in the first place. Paradoxes; I can't change our past all the time."
She looked away from him, still upset despite knowing he was right.
"Can I get you a coffee or something?" He asked.
She raised an eyebrow, "Coffee? You drink coffee?"
"Once in awhile." He nodded. "I can make you tea if you want that instead." He offered.
"I'm fine." She shook her head.
"Alright." He clasped his hands, leaning on his forearms as he looked around the room. "What do you think?"
She shrugged, "It looks more...mature"
"Not quite what Bow Tie was, am I" He murmured.
She watched him carefully, "You say that like its a bad thing."
"Is it?" He looked up at her.
"No."
He relaxed a bit. "Good. Are you feeling any better?"
"It depends on what you mean by better."
"Like you could probably stand up without getting dizzy."
"Then, yes, I'm feeling better."
"That's good. I'd like you to rest here for a while if that's alright." He leaned back in the chair.
"So the kidnapping continues." She murmured.
"You live here, it hardly counts."
"I don't live here." She murmured, "Another River lives here."
He shrugged. "Actually, she's traveling at the moment."
"Traveling?" Her brow furrowed.
"For her birthday." He confirmed.
She nodded, "Where's Terra?"
"That's spoilers, isn't it. I thought you knew what questions you couldn't ask."
"Well, it's also spoilers for me to know that I'm traveling right now, but you didn't mind telling me that, so I thought you were making exceptions."
"I'm telling you the things you said I had told you already." He explained.
"Well, then I'll tell you that you told me about Terra." She whispered.
He considered this. "I can answer any questions you have about the Terra you left Bow Tie with. The Terra now... well I can't say much, but I can introduce you if that's what you want."
"I-" She hesitated, "Do you think that would be alright?"
He nodded. "She won't spoil anything major for you, and if you don't tell Bow Tie about it then there's no danger."
She nodded, "I won't."
"If you feel well enough to stand, we can see her."
"If you help me, I think I can manage."
He offered his support to help her up and wrapped an arm around her waist once she was standing. She winced but walked with him. They went slowly, mindful of the I.V. pole they wheel alongside her still.
Terra's room wasn't too far and the Doctor opened the door without knocking. The girl in the middle of the room looked about ten years old and had her back to the doorway
The Doctor flickered the light switch to get her attention. She turned around.
River held her breath.
The girl started to look concerned at River's unease, so the Doctor explained: "[Terra, this is a younger Mummy. In her time, you were just born. No spoilers.]" He spoke along with his signs so River would understand.
It scared River that the girl didn't appear to be especially happy to see her. Was it because she wasn't a good mother to her? Did Terra not love her? Was their relationship not good even in the future?
Terra stood with the doll she'd been holding, going over to the pair and staring up at River before asking, "Can I visit Toby?"
"She can talk? I-I don't know how to sign." River shook her head, "I shouldn't be here. I have to go."
He tried to urge her to stay. "I can translate what you say."
She looked between them, "Does she love me?"
He nodded. "With all the heart a child can love with, though you can just ask her if you don't believe me."
"Can you ask her for me?"
He looked softly at his daughter. "[Mummy wants to know if you love her.]"
Terra wasn't hesitant to nod and sign 'yes' and hold her arms up for River to lift her.
River nearly reached down to pick her up, then stopped herself. "I want the first time that I hold her to be when she's a baby."
Terra looked confused. "Hug!" River carefully reached down to hug the girl, holding her tightly in her arms.
"We decided on oral training as well as sign." The Doctor murmured, smiling softly at them. "We mainly use sign, but it helps that she can call us into the room when she needs us."
River wasn't really paying attention, keeping her arms tight around her daughter. Terra was noticeably many keys happier than she was a moment ago, wiggling her head to look up at her. "Stay for dinner?"
She shook her head, "Not tonight. I have to go back to my version of you." She looked at the Doctor who translated what River said.
"[But today is our birthday Daddy is cooking our favorite.]" She protested, which the Doctor relayed back to River.
River smiled weakly, though the offer was tempting, she had to be with her baby now, "I can't, but I promise, I'll make sure future I comes back in time for dinner."
Terra thought this was a reasonable compromise and nodded. She then pointed at herself, crossed her arms over her chest with flat palms, then pointed at River.
River knew what that meant, repeating the sign back to her, "I love you too."
Terra beamed then signed something to her father. He chuckled. "She want's you to bring cookies next time you visit."
She laughed as well, "Alright, I will."
He told Terra that they were going to go back to the med bay before Mummy left and she ought to stay and continue to play until dinner time.
"I don't need to go back to the med bay." River murmured.
"Just for a quick scan. I want to make sure you won't start bleeding again."
"Fine." She nodded.
Terra waved to them as they turned back down the hall. River waved back, still needing a lot of the Doctor's support to walk.
He helped her back down on the cot when they returned. "You look... less scared."
"I feel a bit less scared." She murmured, though wasn't sure if she was just psyching herself into it. He offered an old smile and ordered the scan. River lay still so he could scan her.
"Everything looks normal." He said after a moment, reading off the scan. "Just the regular fatigue and soreness you'd feel after pushing a person out of you, but you're familiar with that. You'll need lots of rest."
She nodded, "Of course, I know how this all works. Thank you."
"You can rest here." He offered.
She shook her head slowly, "I should get back."
"Do you think you're ready to?" He asked carefully.
"As ready as I can be." She whispered.
"The whole pregnancy, you kept talking about needing time; The kind of time where you didn't have Bow Tie over your shoulder or Terra pulling on your mind. I only bring it up because you can have it now if you need it."
"I know, but I never got that time, and now I have responsibilities. If I don't go back now, I may never go back." She whispered. "I needed time, but I didn't get it, so maybe I wasn't meant to have it. Maybe I was meant to just figure things out as I go."
"Not alone, of course." He added.
"Of course, I have you." She smiled softly.
He returned the expression. "If I ever get too much for you, feel free to come back here. Possibly with cookies for Terra."
She smiled, "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."
"Let's get you back to your time, then." He offered a hand up. She took the hand, slowly rising.
They went to the console room in a pace she could manage before he set her on the jump seat and began piloting. "Did you like the peony?"
"I did." She nodded, "A good way to give yourself away."
"Subtlety is boring." They landed and he helped her up again. "Should I give you some parting words of wisdom?"
"If you have some." She nodded, walking with him to the door.
" Don't be afraid to ask Bow Tie for help. Or tell him to sod off, he's a big boy, he can handle it." He thought. "The girls will be off the walls with excitement, so if that's overwhelming then tell me to take the kids to the park or somewhere so you can have some quiet."
She smiled weakly, "Is that all?"
He sighed, knowing that his words were useless. He knew what she was going to do in just a matter of hours. "Unless you have burning questions."
She shook her head, "Nothing that you'll be allowed to answer."
"You'll probably have your answer in due time, anyway." He nodded. "We're in the flat, by the way. Give Bow Tie a call and tell him where you are. He's worried sick if I recall correctly."
"Don't worry, I will." She slowly walked out, grateful to rest on the couch. Toby marched into the room as the TARDIS dematerialized, excited to see the Timelady. River smiled, reaching for the phone with one hand and greeting the dog with the other.
Toby made a curious noise, pushing his nose into her side.
"She's not in there." River murmured, calling the TARDIS, "She's out now."
The phone only rang twice before a frantic sounding Doctor answered. "Hello?"
"Relax." River murmured, "It's me. I'm in the flat and I'm perfectly fine."
"But Jack was gone ages and when he came back he said you weren't there but he wouldn't give me any details and are you sure you're alright are you hurt is someone making you say that?" He said all at once.
"I'm fine. If you don't believe me then come to the flat and see for yourself." She sighed, "I'll explain once you get here."
It was hardly a minute before the TARDIS materialized and the young, tweed-wearing Doctor rushed out holding their still crying daughter.
River smiled weakly at him, "Told you."
He looked her over, visibly relaxing as he tried to calm Terra. "What happened?"
She was watching the baby now, a bit distracted, "You… you were there. You took care of me."
He frowned in confusion since he'd been in the TARDIS the whole time trying and failing not to panic. After a moment, he realized what she meant and refrained from asking questions, following her gaze to their daughter. "...She's hungry."
River wasn't quite ready for that. The urge to run away was quickly returning, "...I- ...Already?"
"Babies don't come out with a full stomach." He pointed out. "I, uh, I can find some formula..."
River winced, eyes on the floor now.
"Are you alright?" He sat down next to her.
"Sore." She murmured.
He nodded. "You didn't answer my question."
"Which one?" She sighed.
"Should I find some formula for her?"
She hesitated, "...No..."
"No?" He looked a bit hopeful.
She nodded tentatively holding out her arms. He gently placed the red-faced infant in her arms, watching River's expression carefully. She tensed, staring down at the little baby in her arms, all the fear returning.
Terra squirmed and blinked sadly up at her. Maybe the future had been wrong since she already felt like she was failing. Every second she held her daughter, she felt worse. The little person, who was supposed to be so innocent and happy and full of love, was just making her feel like a failure with her big sad eyes. Terra should have been happy to see her, not sad to be in her arms. "I can't do this..." She whispered, "I don't know how to do this."
He put and assuring hand on her shoulder, hoping to offer comfort. "Just tell her she's alright. Tell her she's safe."
She stared at him, her body tense before following his advice, It's okay.
Where am I? She asked, distraught.
You're with me. In the world.
This is where your stories come from?
Yes, this is where the stories are from.
Her crying started to die down to whimpers. What about the monsters? Will they come and get me?
No, they're not going to get you.
Terra squirmed uneasily, not convinced. What's the thing down there?
That's the dog, Toby. You know Toby.
She searched her small memory, recalling not only the dog but the cats and the hands of her siblings and aunts and uncles as well. ...Are you going to leave?
"No, not right now."
Don't leave! She whimpered.
"I'm not leaving."
Terra whimpered again.
"You're doing brilliantly." The Doctor murmured and kissed River's temple.
She shook her head, still very unsure. Terra's hand wrapped tightly around her finger, gurgling something about being hungry. River swallowed, "Alright, we'll get you fed."
"It's alright to not be ready for that." The Doctor murmured. "I can still get some formula."
She shook her head, "No, I should do this."
He nodded. "Do you need anything?"
She shook her head, "No, I know how to do it."
"I meant like... privacy or something."
"Can you stay?" She asked, softly, not sure if she was entirely comfortable being alone with the baby.
"Course." He nodded without hesitation.
She slowly maneuvered so she could feed the baby properly. Terra latched quickly. It was the quietest she'd been since she'd first took a breath. River smiled weakly, "She looks like you."
"She's got my last face's chin, luckily." He noted.
She laughed softly, "No chin that will take your eye out."
"And still your curls." He grinned, pointing out the dark tuft on her head.
She nodded, "But your eyes." She smiled softly.
Terra's unhappiness seeped away as she nursed, settling for the first time.
