ranA/n: Ok, so since some of you guys wanted me to do a continuation of the Woman in a Ball Gown, Shooting Some Aliens one shot-and I really love writing awkward fluff- I decided, 'What the heck?'. And voila-this one shot….maybe two shot…thing was born. Enjoy. I never finished what I wanted to write for this chapter though...So I decided to just give it to you.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except Emmaline and my teddy bear, Gobby, who has a really weird name. #Don'tjudegeme
Doctor's POV
"Your WHAT?"
Ok so maybe blurting that little piece of information out randomly wasn't the best thing to do.
I stared at Emma from the console, contemplating what to do about this….situation. Actually, I just really don't know what to do here. Ha, I kind of like that. I've never been in this kind of predicament before. I mean, I don't really know how to describe very accurately just what River and I are. The only time someone had asked me who River was before, the best description I could come up with was "Hell in high heels".
Oh Lord of Fez, Emma's still staring at me, waiting for an explanation.
"Um…," I cleared my throat, "Wife, yeah, that's what she is. Errrrr…that's River."
Smooth, Doctor. That was just brilliant of me.
Emma's eyebrows shot up so high that one of them disappeared under her dark brown bangs, "No, no, I heard you, Doc," she laughed, a bit hysterically, "It's just that I just now accepted the idea that you have regular type friends…and now you drop it on me that you're MARRIED?"
I scratched my cheek uncomfortably, "Well….I honestly don't really know how to properly tell people what River and I….ARE."
She chuckled once, somehow looking incredulous and amused at the same time, "Try, Doctor, because I'd really like to understand this. I mean, does she live here on the TARDIS with you? How long have you been married? And could you not have TOLD me so I wouldn't be so blind-sided by this? Geez, I feel freakin' stupid here."
I felt my expression pinch as I started to get irritated. I understood why Emma wanted to come with me when she asked-because she's like me and one planet was just not enough for her. And I care about Emma. I do. She's a great friend to me, like Amy or Donna. But still, she signed up for this, I did not drag her with me. I warned her. I told her she wouldn't like parts of me. She still came. So she has no right to be angry about this- I made HER look stupid? I feel like a bloody idiot around River half the time and Emma sees her once and just demands that I explain our whole dynamic…How does she expect me to do that when I hardly understand? She needs to get that there are certain things I just can't let myself share with everyone. I don't know why, I just can't.
"Excuse me, Emma. You might have forgotten, but I warned you when you demanded to come with me that there would be things in my life that you wouldn't understand! …And that I just wouldn't tell you. River happens to be one of those things. I didn't tell you because I….I hardly understand MYSELFwhen I'm around her, and thinking about it gives me a headache and many other feelings I can't quite decipher and I would appreciate it if you tried to grasp that maybe you shouldn't push me."
I didn't realize how harsh my tone was or how much I was glaring at Emma until I saw the taken aback expression on her face and the slightly hurt light in her eyes. I don't know why, but I always understand what Emma means if I just look at her eyes; perhaps it's because she thinks like I do.
She walked up the stairs to me and opened her mouth to speak, trying to hide the hesitance in her countenance, she looked up at me with clear eyes. "I'm sorry, Doc," she smiled shyly; that's the first timid expression I've ever seen on her face.
She punched my shoulder lightly, "Look, I'm pushy and curious and I tend to want to understand things more than I have a right to. And I really am sorry that I didn't take into account the fact that you're not just my time-and-space-adventurer-buddy. You're not just that very brilliant and very dorky guy that takes me to faraway places. I've seen you save planets, civilazations, but I guess I was just dense. Because I didn't realize it until now, but…you're not just my friend. You're a man that has more on his mind than what flavor custard to dip your fish fingers in. Sometimes I forget that you're an adult," she gave me her signature lop-sided smile, "That you're more than that, you're….I don't know. More ….Doc, you don't mind me asking, but…you're also River's, aren't you?"
Emma's POV
"River's what?" his eyebrows pinched together in that way that I've learned means he's confused and isn't happy about it.
I smiled gently, trying to be easy about this, "River's everything."
I could see it now-from the way he looked at her when she came in to the way he's talking about her now… He belongs to her.
That badass curly-headed blond that busted through the doors owns him, in a way. And he, her.
