River landed them near the Thames. They could hear the water lapping at the shore outside the TARDIS. Grabbing her scanner, River led the way out with Rose close behind her.

Rose seemed surprised. "When did we land?"

Confused, River told her within the last minute or so.

"But… it was silent."

"Oh, that man, always leaves the brakes on. The TARDIS isn't supposed to make that noise," River smiled.

"How is it you know how to fly the TARDIS?" Rose asked.

"She taught me," River told her simply. "I am a child of the TARDIS."

"And that means...?"

"I was conceived while flying through the time vortex. It gave me certain Gallifreyan quirks. What about you? Human?"

"Of course… now anyway. I might've taken the heart of the TARDIS into my own head once…" Rose mused.

"Ah, yes, the Doctor mentioned that." River stopped outside of an old factory. "This looks right."

"How do you know the Doctor?" Rose asked. She noticed their surroundings. These were not her modern day factories."Wait, when are we?"

"Mid 1860s at a guess," River informed her. River paused near the noisy factories. Workers were still milling about but they did not need to go inside. The signal she was getting came from a service access tunnel. It was dark, so she pulled out a torch she'd brought with her."I know the Doctor because I was raised to kill him."

Rose seemed taken aback, not that it was an unexpected reaction, River supposed. "But, why?" the young woman asked.

The tunnel around them dripped water on them every few meters. One hit River right on the top of the head and slid down her scalp making her shiver. "There are people all throughout the universe that would see a man that good and that brilliant brought down," she said sadly.

Rose mused on her words as they went further into the tunnel. "What was he like, when you met him?" River asked, curious.

"He was… sad," Rose said quietly. "He hid it behind rudeness much of the time but I could tell that he was sad. The Doctor seemed better when we went on adventures. I never wanted it to end, never wanted to slow down because I knew he'd start facing it again. I wanted to protect him from himself. He seemed capable to guard himself against everything else. He seems sad again, now. Do you know why?"

"My parents," River told her. "He lost them very recently. They were sent back in time in New York and they lived out their lives, but he never got to see them again."

"I'm sorry. Was it the angels?" Rose asked.

"Yes." River did not know quite how to take this young blonde. Rose is not at all what she would have expected a former love of the Doctor's to be. She wondered if his different regenerations lent to his preferences or not. The woman seemed… innocent. Maybe innocence was what he needed then. What concerned River the most, however, was that Rose had never met her but her Doctor did not seem that much younger than her own. River's time with the Doctor was coming to an end.

"How long have you known him?"

River could see a light at the end of old stone tunnel now. "I've heard about him ever since I was a child. I did not meet him until I killed him the first time. It wasn't until the second time I killed him that I married the man."

Rose stopped. "You're married? To the Doctor?"

River stopped as well and crossed her arms. "Yes." She watched the emotions run across Rose's face. Confusion and hurt battled for precedence before she finally dropped back to a neutral expression.

"Is… is he happy?"

"I do what I can to make him so," River said. It was impossible to know exactly what made the old Time Lord happy.

Rose looked deeply hurt again but did not seem to want to continue the conversation which was perfectly fine with her. River suspected the younger woman would corner the Doctor about this later. Served the man right.

They exited the tunnel, silent now, both women lost in their own thoughts. The tunnel stopped at a patch of grass, further from the Thames now and leading them out of the city. River dropped down and scanned the grass. "Burn patterns," she showed Rose. "Something was here." She pulled out her sonic screwdriver and scanned the marks.

Rose clutched at her abdomen as River turned to her."Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just feeling a bit sick," Rose said.

River looked down at the gun that was suddenly in her hand. It had obviously recently discharged but she had no memory of even unholstering it.

"River!" Rose shouted.

She whipped around to find Rose standing with a hand still on her belly. "What?" River asked.

Rose looked confused. "What?"

"Oh, no," River whispered. She pulled out her communicator. "Doctor." He answered and immediately started talking without preamble. She listened and then said, "Wait, you found what?" She turned to Rose. "They found a girl."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Of course they did."

"River!" the Doctor was shouting through the communicator. "What was that shot?"

"What shot? Did I shoot something?" She looked down at her gun again; this really wasn't good. "Doctor, we found a burn pattern here. Clearly something was here but it's been moved."

He shouted her name again. "I know we still have the TARDIS. But, Doctor… I think we're under attack."

"We've got to get to London. Now!" Eleven shouted to Ten, closing communications with his wife. It was extremely disconcerting to hear her shooting and not remembering. She kept repeating some things. The Silence, it had to be. He would not let them take her again.

"How are we going to get there? The ladies have the TARDIS," Ten noted. He was trying to get Timeless to say more but she was mute, eyes empty and lost. She stood next to him now, the edges of her dress frayed. She looked like she had been in the woods for weeks.

Eleven growled. "I don't care how we do it but we need to get there, now. The Silence are here."

"What are the Silence?"

"The ones that turned River into what she was. You can't remember them when you look away."

"Another creature in this world that doesn't belong here."

"A puzzle to solve later," the Eleventh Doctor said. He pulled Timeless to her feet as gently as he could quickly. They had scanned her with the sonic screwdriver but the only information it provided was that she seemed more or less human and was dying.

They made their way back down the hill in the dark heading back towards their rendezvous point. There was too much distortion in this part of the forest for the TARDIS to pick them up here. It was unlikely that there just happened to be a girl in the middle of the woods who gave off readings similar to the TARDIS. His younger duplicate was attempting to help her along but she was tiring and after only a kilometer, she could not go on.

Frustrated, Eleven scooped the girl up in his arms. She was such a tiny thing. Ten gave him a wary look but kept the torch shining a path before them. They really didn't know what Timeless was but they both guessed that she was part of the TARDIS's consciousness.

"If she does contain a manifestation of the TARDIS's soul, she doesn't have long," he whispered to Ten.

"It doesn't change our deadline," Ten said. "I've never heard of a TARDIS taking a form like this. A physical body cannot sustain her."

"I've seen it once," Eleven told him. "She was ripped out and put in a body, but she began to die quickly. That body already existed, however." Was Timeless a girl who had the random misfortune to be up on a mountain in a redwood forest where part of the TARDIS's soul went. Or, did the ship actually create her itself? And, how?"

Eleven shook his head. "More to figure out later once we know River and Rose are safe."

They made it back to where they started much faster than it took them originally but there was no one there. "River…" He tried calling her on the communicator but she didn't pick up.

"Where are they," Eleven growled frustrated. He put Timeless down.

River and Rose ran through the tunnel trying to avoid slipping on the stones. "What is that thing?" Rose shouted to her.

No, no, she really was not inclined to answer that question again. Their entire conversation had been going in circles as they ran through the tunnel back to the TARDIS. River took a couple shots every time she looked back, but if it weren't for the failing power supply on her gun she would have no clue that she had done this more than once.

Turning to take another shot, River's foot slipped on one of the stones and she fell hard. Rose stopped and reached out to haul her up. As Rose's hand touched her arm the world around them blazed white; they were standing in literally nothing. It was like being in the emptiness of space but without even the hope of stars.

As soon as River was on her feet, Rose let go. "What is that?!"

"The two worlds cannot touch. Come on." River didn't see anything behind her. She wasn't entirely sure what they were running from but they were running, which usually had a good reason. She breathed a happy sigh when they came in view of the TARDIS. Rose pulled out a key, opened the door, and they both ran in. Rose fell to the floor panting. "I have absolutely no energy. I must be in worse shape than I thought."

River set the TARDIS in flight and then leaned over Rose to check on her. She was leaning back, her head resting on the console, cheeks flushed pink. "Are you getting sick?"

Rose shook her head. "Maybe, my energy has been down lately." She pulled herself up when the police box landed with the gentlest bump. The Doctor ran in through the doors. He pulled River into a tight embrace.

Over his shoulder, River spied the younger Doctor walk over to Rose and brush the back of his hand over her flushed cheeks and confer with her quietly. "Are you okay?" the Eleventh Doctor asked.

River waved him off but she was secretly pleased for the attention. "I'm fine, though Rose seems a bit winded." She looked past him and saw a girl just outside the TARDIS. They turned and watched as she stepped through the doorway and every light in the TARDIS flashed; they heard an ominous hiss.

"I don't think our ride is thrilled about your latest stray," River noted.

"River Song, Rose Tyler, meet Timeless," Eleven said as Ten moved the TARDIS again.

River studied the young girl. Fair skin, ruby lips, upturned nose, blush on her cheeks. She was pretty in a fairy-tale princess sort of way. But, her stunning blue-green eyes looked almost vacant. River didn't trust her. Something felt… off about the girl's energy. "Who is she?"

"We're not sure," Eleven confessed. "We suspect she contains part of the consciousness of the TARDIS."

If that were true, River would have expected the TARDIS they were on to react in a less negative fashion. But, there was another concern on her mind.

"The Silence and the weeping angels. Why are they both here? And, why did they both chase us to the TARDIS and then just leave? That isn't like either group."

"I was thinking the same thing," her husband noted.

They were interrupted when Rose's phone rang. Weren't they in the 1800s still?

"What?" Rose was saying. "Mum, calm down. Tell me again… Oh, no. We'll be right there." She turned to Ten. "It's my brother, Tony. He's hurt. We have to get back."