The wind whipped River's hair around. She kept pushing her curls out of her eyes, sweeping them away from her face. She felt ridiculous, huddled in her white fleece coat, standing on the top of the administration building of Luna University. She didn't even know what she was waiting on. It had better be worth it though, whatever it was, because she'd had to break into the offices in the middle of the day and disarm the alarm system to the roof… far too much work as far as she was concerned.

"Come on, Doctor," she muttered, "what's going on here?" She walked to the edge of the roof and pounded her palms on the wall. Her feet scraped at the pebbles on the roof. Suddenly, she froze. Someone was behind her. She could feel it. It was a man, she could tell by the sound of the step crunching on the gravel. Was it the Doctor? Did she dare hope?

"Ah, you're actually here." A voice, oddly familiar drawled out, amused, in an American accent. River looked down, calculating, and turned ever so slowly. Her eyes flicked up to the sky, to the north, where clouds were gathering. A storm was coming.

He was in a long gray coat, dark eyes watching the sky like hers. His short black hair was only vaguely tickled by the wind while hers whipped around. And he smiled at her, utterly, endlessly charming. "Oh my…" she murmured. Her mouth dropped open. She knew him.

Oh, god, she knew him.

"Captain Jack Harkness," he said, teeth glinting, holding out his hand. "He-llo."

River found her hand couldn't move from where she'd placed it on her gun. She consciously forced herself to stop gaping. "Ri—Mels. Mels Pond." The old name rolled off her tongue without effort. She smiled indulgently, not risking her real name. Life was getting far too complicated to be rewarded with honestly. He looked her up and down, applying the name to a face. Although he didn't have the decency to pretend that he was looking at her face the whole time.

"Well, Ms. Pond, it's a pleasure." His eyebrows rose, eyes lighting up. River analyzed him without moving. It was early days for him, still a Time Agent, if she was guessing correctly, though then again, maybe the not-so-honest days. The wind played with his coat in swirling gusts. River wrapped her arms across her chest. "I wasn't sure you would actually be here. But, here you are, and may I say, you look gorgeous."

"You don't look so bad either," she winked. He was much younger than she was expecting. Oh, her Doctor would be glaring. "But don't get ahead of yourself, Captain."

"And why not?" He was brushing a lock of her hair out away from her face, hitting the curve of her chin and cheek with the back of his fingers.

"You should know I'm married." Well, sort of. She wasn't sure if it counted.

Jack's face changed, not quite disappointed. He opened his mouth to make a clever remark on her relationship status, but she shot him a glare that shut him up just as fast. "So… the purchase, then. Your message was so cryptic I didn't know what kind of deal you were looking at."

"Message?" She clutched her diary at her belt; her finger slipped to mark the page where her note was written. "Let me guess. Date, time, place. Nothing more." Two of them, cryptic. River didn't understand.

"You mean you didn't send it." All charm dropped off of his face and the flirting note disappeared from his voice. "Am I being set up here?" Jack's face grew drawn. Lines creased the corners of his mouth.

"Why would someone set you up?" The wind turned cold. River slanted her head to let her curls blow away from her face. Jack hesitated, opening his mouth with hidden anxiety.

"Let's just say," he began, "that the Agency and I have had our problems." They lapsed into silence except for a sudden streak of lightning's snap. The Doctor couldn't have left the note, she realized. He didn't know Jack yet. Shock very nearly floored her. Something brought them together.

"Captain, what exactly did you come here to sell me?" Suspicion started as a cotton lump in her throat. She lifted an eyebrow.

Jack raised his hands and spread his fingers defensively. "Now listen here, this is strictly off Agency records, alright?" He stuck his hand into his pocket and drew out a little, silver, bracelet sized box. He lifted the lid quietly.

River swore under her breath. Jack lifted his eyes and watched her react. She scooped the vortex manipulator out of the box, brows furrowing. "Don't touch the merchandise," he snapped. But it was exactly what she needed. Against her will, her face broke out into a relieved smile. She secured it around her wrist, shaking it to make sure it would stay in place. "Hey!" Jack protested. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Jack," she rolled her eyes, "you wouldn't believe me if I told you. But trust me, in the future, you'll be very glad I took it." Jack reached for the vortex manipulator, but River yanked back. She pulled up her hair into a ponytail. "I despise capsule time-travel."

"Mels Pond, you will pay me for that —"

"Tell the Agency you lost it. No one will mind." He grabbed her wrist and she shoved him away, flipping up the panel. She had to guess the date. August 1883, but the day… Krakatoa erupting could be the only thing stranding the Doctor. She was willing to bet.

Jack lunged again to regain his property; River backed up and jolted when she hit the roof's walled edge. Her hands went out to brace herself. Jack reached forward and she swung her arm across her body to press down the vortex manipulator's command. The clouds broke and spilled at last, starting a downpour. River felt a tug through time, a sudden roar pull her back, and a rush of skin wrap around her wrist. She almost screamed.

And then they were gone.


A brick wall. River crashed straight into it, her forearms taking most of the impact. She groaned and stumbled back, rubbing her now-bruised appendages and feeling suddenly dizzy. That was, of course, until she realized it was the ground was the thing wobbling, not her. Bucking, slamming, shaking. "Not again," she muttered with annoyance.

"What?" replied the voice behind her. She clutched at the bricks in the wall that were beginning to break from the mold from the sheer rocking of the earth below and she turned around. Jack pulled himself laboriously from the ground. River glared daggers at him.

"What the hell was that?" River spat.

Jack clutched at his ribcage, gasping and struggling to keep his balance. "Protecting the merchandise," he replied breathily.

"Oh, yeah," she nodded venomously. She strode forward and slapped him across the face.

Jack recoiled, hand pressed to his cheek. "What…?"

"Rubbish. That was a completely rubbish device and you know it." River had to raise her voice to hear herself over the rumble of the mountain. "It doesn't work properly. Where'd you steal it? You could have killed us both!" Jack started to protest, but River pushed him backwards. He stumbled and drew a pistol. Underneath them, the ground writhed like a tortured beast.

River pulled her blaster off her belt. "You don't want to do that to a friend. Besides, I'm a pretty good shot." Jack's eye twitched, saying: try me. The entire island shuddered like a roller coaster coming to a sudden stop. River lost her balance; Jack planted his feet and caught her with his free arm. He tried to undo the strap to the vortex manipulator but it slipped from his shaking fingers and smashed on the ground. She swatted him off, gaping and he pointed the pistol at her heart. There goes the escape route.

"The entire universe is in jeopardy right now—" And she stopped. Looked up in comprehension. He lowered his gun, eyes narrowing and followed her gaze. "Krakatoa…"she murmured, remembering. It was erupting. Seismic waves rolled through the ground. Rock and volcanic ash shrouded the top of the mountain, spewing randomly across the landscape in violent heaves. Rapidly building, a pyroclastic cloud approached spilling point, looming. The noise was deafening. The entire volcano, the island, the world, was exploding. And the Doctor was still somewhere in the middle of it.

"Volcano day," Jack whispered. His eyes widened.

She needed to save the Doctor. And she needed to stay alive long enough to do that. That was the objective. The only objective. River holstered her gun. She glanced around, finally taking in her surroundings enough to understand that she and Jack had crash-landed in a walled garden. Leaning against the bricks to keep oriented, she staggered to the little black gate. The plants underfoot were already smoldering. "Jack, I need your help."

He clicked the safety back in place and pocketed it. He looked at the vortex manipulator on the ground. "I guess I don't have much of a choice, do I?" he shouted.

River shook her head and brushed dust and ash out of her hair. "Not really," she called back. He nodded at last and together they pushed open the half-buried gate.

"So what are we doing here anyway?" Captain Jack covered his mouth with his coat sleeve, coughing on the dust.

"The Doctor." She said it like an explanation. They stumbled out of the garden, Jack holding himself up on the bricks and River supporting herself on his shoulder. The roar blocking her ears and the seesaw motion of the ground made her nauseous. The gases and minerals in the air thickened; it was becoming harder and harder to see and harder and harder to breathe. They turned a corner, and down on the beach, the hazy shape of a little house sat, collapsing in on itself. River covered her own mouth, taking a shaky breath. "And I think I know where to find him."