Ha ha! A bit more of a longer chapter than most, don't you think?! About 4 1/2 pages, size 10 font of course. So this should keep you busy for a little while. Took me a while because I was trying to figure out the plot for season 6 and so. And I have one thing to say.

Damn you Moffat. Just...damn you.

So here you go! Here's Professor River Song.

"Reminder. The library has been breached. Others are coming. Reminder. The library has been breached. Others are coming. Reminder. The library has been breached..."

As the words repeated themselves through the node behind them the Doctor and Donna started to feel more and more on edge. Hearing the same thing over and over again tended to do that to people. The Doctor still remembered when he and Rose had started putting the Bad Wolf puzzle together.

His thoughts were interrupted as bright flash of light blew a door open from behind them, causing them to jump back out of shock, and slight fear in Donna's case. Staring at them sternly the Doctor watched as six figures entered through the doors, all of them wearing spacesuits. As the leader of the group approached him the Doctor had a feeling today was going to be one of those days.

"Hello Sweetie."

Yes. Definitely one of those days, he thought as the filter on the head of the spacesuit pulled back to reveal a grinning woman who looked somewhere in her mid-30s, although really he couldn't be sure what with this age's cosmetic industry being what it was.

"Get out." Donna quietly said his name, probably a reminder for him not to be so rude, not that he really listened. Besides, she had been so quiet it was hard to tell what she had been saying. Really it could have been a cough! "All of you! Turn around, get back in your rocket, and fly away!" He pointed towards the door and generally looked like a ball of energy ready to snap. "Tell your grandchildren you cam to the Library and lived. They won't believe you."

"Pop your helmets, everyone," the leader of the group called, not even bothering to pay attention to the man who had just been ranting and yelling for them to leave. "We've got breathers." The Doctor watched as the group took their helmets off, he was feeling more and more weary about today.

"How do you know they're not androids?" one of the group, a woman, called out from behind him. The Doctor turned his head and looked her up and down for a second. Hm...she was rather smart. Not trusting what she saw immediately and instead questioned what was around her.

"Because I've dated androids," the leader called, the Doctor noticing that she had blonde, curly hair and a rather flirtatious look on her face. "They're rubbish." Oh yes...she would do well to meet Captain Jack. In fact...it was the 51st century... The Doctor wouldn't be surprised if she was somehow related to the man.

"Who is this?" one of the men asked, walking up to the curly-haired woman. As everyone in the room surrounded him the Doctor knew this wasn't going to be as easy as just getting in the TARDIS and leaving, when was it ever? "You said we were the only expedition. I paid for exclusives!"

Expedition...oh no...

"I lied, I'm always lying." Well, that would explain why the Doctor was on edge right now. She reminded him too much of himself at the moment "Bound to be others." The man frowned heavily before backing up a bit and pointing to a rather pretty woman beside him, one who didn't look older than her mid-20s.

"Miss Evangelista," he called, annoyance still coating his voice, "I want to see the contracts." The blonde didn't seem to care what he was doing since she just turned her attention back to the Doctor, who was starting to get just a little confused.

"You came through the north door, yeah? How was that, much damage?" the woman asked, sounding as if this was just another day for her. The Doctor frowned before putting his hands on his hips, feeling much like one of his previous regenerations, although he couldn't bother to remember which one right now.

"Please just leave. I'm asking you seriously and properly, just leave- Hang on. Did you say expedition?" And then it finally hit him as the expression of disgust and weariness took over his face. Oh this day was not going to pleasant at all.

"My expedition," the man who seemed to be actually in charge spoke, "I funded it."

"Oh you're not, are you?" Even his expression showed how much reluctance he had being here. Donna was actually impressed by how dramatic he was being, since this was more than usual. "Tell me you're not archaeologists..."

"Got a problem with archaeologists?" the woman asked, raising an eyebrow and sounding like she already knew the answer. Actually...she was sounding like she already knew him, and people who sounded like that usually ended up causing all sorts of trouble.

"I'm a time traveler. I point and laugh at archaeologists." And really he did. Honestly...going to museums was more of a way to cheer himself up when he was depressed. He remembered last time he took Rose to one she had been cracking up all day, although really he couldn't tell if it was at the exhibits or if it was at him going crazy about all they had got wrong.

Probably the exhibits.

"Ah. Professor River Song," the woman, River, grinned while holding out her hand. "Archaeologist." Oh she was so like Jack. She could be his older sister and he wouldn't be the least bit surprised. Shaking her hand out of habit he then quickly maneuvered her back towards her group and the door.

"River Song, lovely name. As you're leaving, and you're leaving now, you need to set up a quarantine beacon. Code wall the planet, the whole planet!" As he explained, quickly, he noticed one of the woman walking towards the shadows, the one who had questioned if they were androids. "Nobody comes here, not ever again. Not one living thing! Not here, not ever. Stop right there!" As he pulled the girl back he quickly asked, "What's your name?"

"Anita." Oh and she sounded mad, well, that was normal with him. Him being rude...and still not ginger...

"Anita, stay out of the shadows. Not a foot, not a finger in the shadows till you're safely back in your ship," And he did try to be a bit nicer this time as he explained. A bit. "Goes for all of you! Stay in the light! Find a nice bright spot and just stand. If you understand me look very, very scared."

As his eyes darted around the room he saw a few looked confused, Anita looked like he was crazy, and River just raised an eyebrow at him like she was amused. The amused expression was what annoyed him the most. Did he really have a face that just no one listened to anymore?! He blamed Rose.

"No, bit more scared than that." Well...at least the younger woman looked somewhat scared, although of him or the shadows he wasn't sure. "Okay, do for now. You!" He pointed at the man who was still standing by the door as he strolled towards it, "Who are you?"

"Er, Dave."

"Okay, Dave!"

"Oh, well, Other Dave. Because that's Proper Dave," a gesture to the only person in the room who had yet to talk, "the pilot. He was the first Dave, so when we-" Oh...he sensed another Mickey the Idiot... Well...maybe this one had hope too...

"Other Dave," he interrupted as he put his hand on the man's back and steered him out the door, "The way you came, does it look the same as before?"

"Yeah. Oh!" And here comes another bad feeling... "It's a bit darker." Yeah...bad day today. Oh why did he have to follow that stupid message on his psychic paper. He should have just ignored it and taken Donna to that Chinatown planet like he had planned.

"How much darker?"

"Oh, like I could see where we came through just like a moment ago," a vague gesture with the device he was holding in his hands, "I can't now."

"Seal up this door. We'll find another way out," the Doctor ordered, walking back over to the center of the room they were in. A rotunda it looked like.

"Would you-" Yep, definitely another Mickey. Oh and this time Rose wasn't even here to tell him not to be rude, how unfair was that? Messing with people like that was only fun when Rose would butt in and tell him to shut it.

"We're not looking for a way out!" the man, the one who had paid for the expedition, spoke up, staring after him coldly. "Miss Evangelista?" He held out a clipboard and gave it to the young woman before motioning towards the Doctor, who was going back to stand by Donna.

"I'm Mister Lux's personal...everything. You need to sign these contracts," the two then glanced down at the blue pieces of paper on the clipboard, "agreeing that your individual experience inside the library are the intellectual property of the Felman Lux Corporation." It had sounded like she was remembering something from a card, which wouldn't be far off since the the girl's boss, Lux, was mouthing the words with her near the end.

"Right, give it here," the Doctor half-smiled, accepting the piece of paper at the same time as Donna reached for one.

"Yeah, lovely. Thanks." It was then the two ripped up the contracts in their hands with similar expressions of nonchalance before tossing the pieces away, the Doctor more dramatically than Donna.

"My family built this library," Lux explained rather darkly, walking up to the two and gesturing with his flashlight, "I have rights." The Doctor was about to tell him to shut it but he was beat to the point, which was something that set him on edge even more than before.

"You have a mouth that won't stop," River butted in rudely, sounding as annoyed with the man as the Doctor was. Lux glared back at her coldly but she just ignored him and turned her expression on the Doctor, like he was in charge of this whole thing. "You think there's danger here?" The Doctor knew he should be happy she was finally listening but that look on her face, the trust in her eyes, just made him uncomfortable.

"Something came to this library and killed everything in it. Killed a whole world. Danger?" he asked rhetorically while tilting his head to the side, "Could be." River's flat expression amused him more than anything else. Why were humans so narrow-minded...

"That was a hundred years ago. The Library's been silent for a hundred years," River explained, conviction in her voice. "Whatever came here's long dead!"

"Bet your life?" the Doctor asked, expecting her to finally realize the danger she was in. Instead the woman just grinned while giving him a look that said this wasn't her first time facing danger like this, probably wouldn't be her last either. Not if she could help it.

"Always." The Doctor's expression grew slightly amused as his eyes flickered over her a bit before turning back around. Humans may be narrow-minded...but there was something about this one that was rather interesting. At the sound of something being nailed up he turned towards the door the group had entered from.

"What are you doing?" Lux exclaimed, standing in front of Other Dave as the Doctor walked towards the two. Other Dave looked between the two before gesturing back towards the door, River still grinning from her spot in the middle of the room.

"He said seal the door." Like it was a simple thing. And this was one of the reasons he liked humans so much, they knew when to shut up and listen.

"You're taking orders from him?!" Well...some of them did.

"Spooky, isn't it?" the Doctor snarked, taking the flashlight from the man's outreached hand and walking back towards the edge of the room. Lux looked from his empty hand to him for a few seconds before looking slightly confused, wondering how this had all turned around on him.

As the Doctor shined the light into the edges of the room, where thick shadows laid, Donna came to stand beside him. She could feel the tension that could be seen, coiled in his shoulders.

"Almost every species in the universe has an irrational fear of the dark," the Doctor explained, still staring out at the shadows. "But they're wrong, because it's not irrational. It's Vashta Nerada." He said it like he expected the group to be killed right there and then.

"What Vashta Nerada?" Donna asked, sounding worried at the tone in his voice.

"It's what's in the dark. It's what's always in the dark." He was silent for a few seconds before turning back to the group, tossing the light back into Lux's hands. "Lights! That's what we need, lights! You got lights?"

"What for?" River asked, the Doctor walking back towards them with purpose.

"Form a circle," he explained. "Safe area. Big as you can, lights pointing out." Quickly slipping his coat off he threw it to rest on one of the shelving carts before hearing River take charge behind him.

"Oi! Do as he says!" As a flurry of movement erupted from behind him he crouched to the floor, looking at the shadows from his new angle.

"You're not listening to this man?!" Lux half-asked, sounding shocked at what was now going on. To be fair not many were ever ready to meet the Doctor.

"Apparently I am," River responded, the Doctor half-listening. Not many were prepared...but apparently she was. "Anita, unpack the lights. Other Dave, make sure the door's secure, then help Anita. Mister Lux, put your helmet back on, block the visor. Proper Dave, find an active terminal. I want you to access the library database." Donna stared in shock. She was like the Doctor right now, giving orders with no hesitation. "See what you can find about what happened here a hundred years ago. Pretty boy, you're with me," River finally winded down from her orders, picking up her helmet and bag as she did so, "Step into my office."

"Professor Song," Lux called out, "Why am I the only one wearing my helmet?"

"I don't fancy you," River grinned as the Doctor got up and walked over to Proper Dave at the terminal as Lux aggravatingly took off his helmet.

"Probably I can help you," the Doctor explained, slipping his glasses on before leaning one hand against the terminal, Proper Dave staring at him for a second before going back to the screen.

"Pretty boy! With me, I said," River called, the Doctor looking behind him before he saw Donna's expression, which was a mix of amusement and the look she gave him when he was being stupid.

"Oh, I'm pretty boy?" the Doctor asked, pointing to himself while Donna rolled her eyes.

"Yes! Oo..." she muttered, "That came out a bit quick." The Doctor was more paying attention to the part that he had just been called 'pretty'.

"Pretty?"

"Meh," Donna said, tilting her head to the side. The Doctor made a similar noise and expression before walking over towards River.

"Don't let your shadows cross!" he ordered at the group, "Seriously, don't even let them touch. Any of them could be infected." As the others chatted behind him he walked over to River, who was now taking out a battered blue book from her backpack. It actually...looked familiar. It had eight squares on the cover. It looked...but no. That was impossible.

He lightly coughed to get her attention before she suddenly looked up and smiled, opening the book as she did so. "Thanks," she grinned, looking like a little girl who had just been visited by a family member who she didn't get to see that often. And that expression freaked him out more than anything.

"For what?" he hesitantly asked, wondering if he should. At the rate things were going he wasn't sure if he really wanted to know what she was talking about.

"The usual. For coming when I call." Oh! So that's who had given him the message...on psychic paper...in the middle of the Vortex... "Usually you're much quicker though, although I suppose you got tied up with something else." Here she gave him a look that made him fidget. It was like she knew something that not even he knew yet.

"So that was you who sent the message?" he asked, just to confirm, and to get away from a subject that she seemed to know more about than him.

"You're doing a very good job of acting like you don't know me... I'm assuming there's a reason." Well...since he had never actually seen this woman in his life, any of them...

"A fairly good one, actually," he shifted uncomfortably again, glasses slightly moving down his face as he did so.

"Okay, diary time," she grinned while flipping through a few more pages in her book and then looking back up at his face and squinting a bit. "Judging from your face I'd say it's rather early days for you, yeah?" She half-asked, going to a section near the middle of the book. She then looked between him and Donna and then back around the room for a few seconds.

"Okay...I give up..." At this he raised his eyebrows at her. Give up on what? "Where's Rose? I'm assuming something must have happened if she's not by your side. Is she okay?" He barely even noticed the worried tone in River's voice, head too busy going over what she had just said to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. She...had asked about Rose.

River looked at his blank look before sighing. "Well, I just hope it's not too bad, although knowing her not even a sickness will keep her away from you. Honestly you two act like teenagers half the time you're together! And teenagers at the start of their relationship at that. Can't let each other out your sight for more than a few minutes or one of you's going crazy.

"Well, guess we'll just have to do diaries without her for now...oh, she's going to be angry she missed this one. Let's see..." River flipped a page, still not noticing the Doctor's cold look at her. "Crash of the Byzantium?" she asked, looking up only to see his blank stare, although it looked rather cold. Shaking it off she flipped forward a page.

"Okay, so obviously ringing no bells. Right. Oh! Picnic at Asgard...Rose just loved it there... Have we done- Doctor...what's wrong?" River asked, finally noticing the cold and dead look in the man's eyes. "Doctor... Where's Rose?" she asked, voice growing hard and serious.

River immediately grew weary as the look in the man's eyes grew even colder. The Doctor only looked like this when Rose was in trouble or hurt... Problem was...she had never seen him this bad off before...could Rose be... No. There was no way Rose could die.

"How do you know about Rose?" Well...she hadn't been expecting that question, especially not the sharp bite in his voice, like she was something evil. River blinked in confusion before a small smile showed on her face.

"Well of course I know about Rose... You can't see her without you nearby, and vice versa I might add. You two are practically glued at the hip when it comes to one another!" She trailed off as she looked into his eyes again. No...she couldn't have come that far back... "Doctor... Where's. Rose."

"Rose is gone," the Doctor stated, coldly. "She's safe, and happy, with her family." And damn if those words didn't kill him and tear his hearts to pieces. He glared down at River for a few seconds before noticing the woman's confused expression and raised eyebrow.

"Doctor...what are you talking about? Safe with her family? Her-" River suddenly cut herself off, a fearful look coming into her eyes. It was then the Doctor had to wonder how she knew his name when he hadn't even said it yet. "Unless... Doctor... Please tell me you know who I am."

"Who are you?"

As a phone starts ringing and echoing around the room, everyone looking confused, River does her best to hide her hurt away as the Doctor's head jerks up and he walks over to the computer terminal. She knew this day would happen, one day, it had always been coming. But...

She just hadn't expected for it to hurt so much.

*cackles* This is fun, although I had some issues with how I wanted River to interact with him at first. Settled on flirty daughter who lives off one-night stand relationships. Kinda like Jack. Actually...in this version I wouldn't be surprised if she learned all she knows from Jack. XD

Next chapter will be up soon-ish. For now I am going to sleep...because I feel...floaty.

Oh yeah! The title is one I made, for those who may not know the circle background is actually Gallifreyan (holy crap that's an actual word...) writing. Let's see who can guess what the word/phrase/sentence is first! And yeah, I'm not making it easy on you. Could be one word...or two...or three or more. Let's see if you know.