Hey guys (and girls) Sorry for my ever-lasting tardy-ness. I've just been SO consumed with school and exams and preparations (did I mention that I'm probably going to the States in September to study there? It's still not official, but... wish me luck) Anyways, this came out after a rather... weird... disturbing... scary dream I had. You know that feeling when... you're not really sleeping, but you're not fully awake either... Well... apparently that sort of "day-sleeping" is a safe haven for nightmares. Probably could be better classified as a filler or a teaser OR an interlude. You get the point. Anyways, two very, very, very, very, very important things are revealed in this chapter. One, at least for me, is quite obvious. The other... not so much.

As always, I would absolutely LOVE to hear your opinion on where this story is going. As of late, I was forced to throw out all my outlines and drafts cause they just didn't fit anymore. GAH... anyways, enjoy...

Reviews=love=faster updates (yup, I'm a review wh*re, hey, at least I'm not ashamed to admit it :D)

She had only 3 minutes left.

She could feel the fear creeping through her skin and seeping into her bones.

The twisted, swirly strands of Time danced before her eyes blurring and dissolving into each other, their vibrant, racy colors irritating her vision and hurting her eyes.

Timeline after timeline clouded her mind and caused a sharp pang to erupt in her mind as they shifted and turned, changing their directions and shaping new paths, completely different realities even, with each second that ticked by.

Not one of them stood out. They all seemed the same, really. Indecisive, first going one way and then another, coiling together and springing loose when she least expected it.

The darkness seemed to stretch in front of her indefinitely, without an apparent end anywhere in sight and for a moment she felt as if though a cold, icy hand had clutched her heart in a dead-lock grip.

"Lovely," she muttered, wincing as the words reverberated through the steep, narrow hallways and echoed around her. "Decades upon decades of Time and Space and it ends with this. Brilliant."

Her sarcasm was almost tangible. Or, would have been if there'd been anyone nearby. Seeing as there was no one around she simply sighed heavily and continued forward, dragging her hands across the sharp-edged, jagged walls, hoping to stumble upon an exit that would lead her back to the upper levels of the building.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, a sharp tug behind her navel and the almost undetectable shift in one of the timelines just to her left alerted her to someone else's presence.

Her eyes widened it terror, recognition instantaneously sparking in her head as her hand reached to her waistband to try and get the subatomic-molecular des… the gun she had.

It was too late. Oh, the irony… there was just never enough Time for anything…

A sharp gasp nearly ripped from her lips as cold, calloused hands grabbed her from behind. She recognized the press of a strong, male body against her immediately. Those outlines and the hard press of something against her lower back were impossible to miss.

One hand swiftly closed around her mouth and she was instantly overwhelmed by a scent that both enthralled her and caused utter disgust to erupt within her insides at the same time. The other shifted to grip her waist, pulling her unbelievable tighter to him, simply too, too low for comfort.

Her face contorted into a mask of horror as she flailed her limbs around, a futile, childish attempt of wrestling away, years and years of martial arts and self-defense training evaporating from her brain as if they'd never existed.

A clear, defined, horrific strand hung clearly behind her closed eyelids as the traitorous tears she whished would just stay away for once burned at the corners of her eyes.

Please…

Out of nowhere, a strange scent hit her nostrils as she breathed in a fresh gulp of air and the terror shone clear on her face as she managed to discern the smell of X2O combined with the tiniest amount of dust-like cyanide.

That was his signature. She was done for.

He found her.

"Did you enjoy the short stay in freedom, my Wolf?" the voice was low and malicious, full of wicked promises and certain doom. It chilled her to her very soul and stripped her bare of all defenses.

"Please, please…"

She had no idea why she was begging. He was never going to let her go. He loved her too much…

"Let me leave, allow me to walk away…"

Leave us both behind, she wanted to say, but it was obvious it was futile.

There was only one upside to this whole thing, she supposed.

The Trap had been set.

She had made him walk away, if at least for a while from his intended target. She hoped and prayed to whatever Deity was out there that it was enough.

"Now why would I do that, my pet? Hm, why would I do that and allow you to fall back in the old way, eh? Fall back with him…" his hand trailed even lower, gripping her thigh so forcefully it made her cry out in pain and surprise.

Oh, God…

She couldn't see his face, but she could practically feel his smirk as he nuzzled his face deep within her hair and inhaled deeply.

Not precisely, pet. Just me…

She shrieked at the intrusion and thrusted every single barrier she had ever been taught and had ever known. Her eyes closed on their own violation and she chose to ignore the possible future that lay hidden within her timeline and taunted her with it bright, vibrant colors and the sudden darkness where it trailed off, out of sight.

"Stay out of my head!" her scream was muffled due to his hand still being forcefully held over her mouth fiercely, forcing her to inhale the now toxic air, but it did nothing to minimize his anger at her sudden outburst.

Cerulean blue eyes widened in rage and disgust as he threw her away from him forcefully, shoving her to the ground.

She fell with a silent thud, the tears burning her retinas impossible to stop as they leaked from her face like crystal lakes running down her pale, numb cheeks.

She was aware that she was fully splayed on the ground before that monster. Her very own drug and personal type of hell and she knew very well just how much personal pleasure he took in seeing her like this.

She winced as a red, sticky, thick substance started to make its way down her face, the dark burgundy blood oozing from the gash that she had gotten when she hit her head on a stray rock.

A groan rumbled low in her throat as she lifted her head slowly, carefully so that she could get a good look at him.

Same as always… not changed a bit…

A dark, seductive, make-believe frown graced his full lips, but his baby blue eyes spoke of terrible things. They spoke of pleasure and death and power and passion she had never been able to run away from.

"Now look what you made me do, Wolf." He leaned down to her level and softly took her chin in his hand, his finger tailing the trail left behind the blood pouring from her wound. "I never wanted to do this, my Pet."

Suddenly, he looked at her. He looked at her in that way that made her feel like he could really see her and her alone, no one else.

His eyes burned the way the Do-his used to and underneath the layer of betrayal and pain and hatred and death and darkness and indifference, shone something she hadn't seen in so, so long.

And it was four letters long.

"I love you…" he lowered his lips gently to her forehead and dropped a light kiss. He softly swept his lips over her eyelids, her nose and her cheeks, his kisses simply feather-light brushes of skin upon skin, before reaching her lips and stopping there for a moment.

"River Song… My River Song."

Oh, she may have run away from him so many times before…

It didn't matter whether she was hurt by the sting of betrayal as he entered his TARDIS with a new blond or redhead under his arms – sometimes both at the same time – and cast her a simple dismissive glance over his shoulder or angered and enraged by the whips and chains of both his words and physical actions that scarred both her body and her heart.

She always found a way to leave and feel the taste of freedom on her lips and on her skin, even if for only a few flimsy hours. He always found her – because he had vowed time and time again that he will never let her walk away – or she always came back – because her heart would simply not allow her to do any other way – and there was always hell to pay for her actions – tenfold – but she always ended up doing it again.

River was running, running, always running and never looking back because she feared that if she didn't run, she would end up being completely consumed and absolutely helpless.

Helpless because of the betrayal of her own body as it responded to him. Consumed because of the burning feeling that nipped and bit on her nerve-endings each time he so much as looked at her.

He may be the monster in their twisted, sick and passionate relationship. But River… she was far, far worse.

Because she loved him.

She loved the non-Doctor with all her heart and it was something that was quite hopefully going to be the death of her one day, perhaps quite soon too.