River should have known that it would end up like this. It always did.
"Doctor you promised me skating on the St. Lawrence during the Carnaval de Québec."
"That I did River, and I promise that we will… once I figure out what's got the TARDIS up and running again. You know her, always in one or another of her moods these days; don't really know what's going on with her really. But the moment I find what's wrong with her and fix it then we'll be on our way to the great north! Maybe we'll ride a moose! Or make maple syrup!"
"Sweetie… you do realize that neither of those things is even remotely interesting don't you?"
The Doctor though was already on the other side of the control panel fiddling with something when all of a sudden he shouted in a completely exasperated voice, "REALLY? Now you're just playing with me aren't you? I thought we were friends!"
"What's wrong Doctor?"
"It's the TARDIS, she's gone and fitted herself with screws. Screw's made of wood! She's obviously doing this on purpose, but she won't tell me what's wrong. I'll be back in a second, I need to go and see if I might have a regular screwdriver, but I'll tell you now that it's pretty unlikely. You hear that? It's unlikely I have a regular screwdriver, so you may have just gotten yourself stuck in the time vortex. Really…."
The Doctor was still mumbling as he left the control room heading through the many corridors of the TARDIS, presumably to find the tool room and hope that for whatever reason he had picked up a phillips head screwdriver somewhere along the way in his travels.
Once River was sure that the Doctor had gone far enough and wouldn't hear what she said she sat down in front of the console and stared into the screen.
"Alright then, out with it. What's really going on? I know that there's nothing wrong with you, so that means you're keeping us stuck here for a reason. The Doctor told me once that you told him that you didn't take him where he wanted and instead took him where he needed to be. So for some reason we need to be in the time vortex right now? Come on, you can tell me, in a way you are one of my mums."
The TARDIS decided to answer her the moment she stopped talking. Suddenly, the screen showed a message written in Gallifreyan, "We need your help, please answer".
For a moment, River couldn't do much more than stare at the message in shock. The fact that the message was written in Gallifreyan was already enough to be confusing, but the fact that it was written in old Gallifreyan? As far as River knew there were only two people in the universe that could still read and write in old Gallifreyan, and they were both currently aboard the TARDIS. She tried to think about who could possibly be able to send this message but couldn't think of a single being who would have been able to send the message. She must have been standing there for longer than she'd thought because the TARDIS did something that sounded like impatient exasperation, she'd gotten the message though, the TARDIS was saying something along the lines of, "Oh you daft woman, just answer it already!"
She'd thought that there was no one in the universe that could've sent that message and she had been right. River had pressed the accept option on the screen she didn't know what to think about what she was staring at. She had recognized the woman instantly but couldn't for the life of her think of a reason for her to be making contact. Frankly River was quite sure that the other woman shouldn't even know of her existence, but River knew her quite well. You could almost say that River liked to think that she knew the woman on the screen as well as she knew most people.
It wasn't at all what she had expected, but somehow it was the only answer that made sense and River felt like she had known who would be on the other side of the call the moment it came through, she just hadn't wanted to admit it. Recognizing the person on the other side of the screen would almost be the same as accepting that no matter how much time she'd spent with the doctor, no matter the fact that they were married and she was sure that he loved her; she would never be able to completely own both of his hearts. For all her bravado and belief in the fact that she loved the doctor more than anything else, she always knew that if somehow the woman on the other side of the screen decided that she'd wanted the Doctor back and found a way back to him… River knew that the Doctor probably wouldn't even spare River a glance before running into the other woman's arms. The other woman's existence was occasionally quite a literal thorn in her side.
It was then that the panic and the fear started settling in. River knew that the other woman probably wasn't sending this message to steal the Doctor away from her. If the other woman had found a way back, she wouldn't be sending a message. The fear was from the fact that the last time the woman had come to this universe the stars had been going out and it could quite literally have been the end of the universe. River decided that whatever news the woman was bringing, she would take it in stride.
She would not back down from this woman. She would be strong. She took a deep breath.
"Hello Rose Tyler."
Rose looked into the screen and was completely and utterly confused. She'd had to check the readings on her own TARDIS to make sure that she'd sent the message to the right place. Then the woman had greeted her, 'Hello Rose Tyler' she'd said. She didn't quite know what to think so she'd crossed to the other side of the console and grabbed the Doctor by the sleeve.
"I'd thought you said it was impossible for you to regenerate into a woman."
"Now Rose, I'd never said it was impossible, just simply highly unlikely. It's his decision, but in all of my previous selves I'd never felt the want to be a woman. Who knows maybe the regeneration after me had decided it was time for a change."
"So that's you then? That cheeky blonde woman with the sultry voice? That's the Doctor of the future?"
"Wait did you just say- " the Doctor was off before he even finished his sentence turning the screen around to face him.
"River Song! I thought it might be you once Rose mentioned a cheeky blonde woman."
River looked at the man who she presumed to be the Doctor, or at least the human metacrisis version of the Doctor. Rose's Doctor.
"So tell me River, have you had the delightful experience of meeting me yet? Just so we can get our timelines straight, don't want any spoilers do we?" the Doctor said with a wink.
"If you mean you as in the Doctor, then yes I've met him. How else could I be on the TARDIS if I hadn't? But if you mean have I met your specific regeneration? Then the answer to that would be no. I'm still with the Doctor of my original timeline. My first Doctor."
"Good, that means we didn't mess up when we were calculating where in time to send the call to. It's also a very good thing that you were the one to pick up River. We'd originally had Rose be the one to make the call because we'd thought that no matter how many regenerations had gone by he'd be more likely to listen to her than he would me, but now that we have you I'll be able to explain the plan myself."
"The plan?"
"Oh yes River, we need you to do something for us. Just a tiny little favour really."