River stood there a moment, gobsmacked at the words that had just come out of the girl's mouth.

"I beg your pardon?" she spat out, still debating whether or not that was actually what she heard.

Ayra looked around with dodgy eyes before gathering herself and repeating her answer.

"I said" she paused and put on a more serious face "spoilers."

River raised her eyebrows in shock.

"That word, spoilers, how do you know that word?"

She loosened the grip on her gun, now knowing that this girl must have some kind of connection to her in the future, but she none the less kept her aim fixated on the mysterious teen.

Ayra contemplated her answer. She couldn't say that she had learnt the word from her mother, who just so happened to have a gun pointed in her direction and not know who she was, so instead, she used the word again.

"That's a spoiler, too."

River shot the young girl a stern look.

"Look, sweetie, not just anyone can waltz into the TARDIS by using a vortex manipulator, say spoilers and expect to not be questioned. At least tell me your name."

"Well, I guess it's no big deal." Ayra said, realizing her name couldn't hurt anyone's timeline "My name's Ayra."

"Ayra what? Surely you have a family name."

"Now, that's definitely a spoiler."

River rolled her eyes. Sure, this girl was young, but she was also good, better than she had thought her to be.

"So, could you help me out with this thing?"Ayra asked, lowering her arms and gesturing towards the fried manipulator. "I mean, the quicker it's fixed, the quicker I'm out of here and the quicker your life goes back to what it was. It's a win-win situation…"

"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." River decided

"It's not like anyone else can help you, anyways." She replied, placing her gun back in its holster and holding her hand out "Bring it over here."

Ayra took off the device and walked down the remaining steps to meet River. As she placed it in her hands, she took a deep breath.

"Please fix it as quickly as you can. I don't think the owner is too fond about me fiddling around with it and then breaking it, much less me disappearing to begin with, so the faster the better."

"Well," River rotated and inspected the gadget "you seem to have fried it pretty badly. I don't know if I can honestly fix it."

Ayra's face became instantly visible with worry.

"But, I will try my best to get it working." She reassured "Now, just sit on one of those chairs over there and do not touch anything. My husband's rather, um, protective over this whole thing."

"Protective's an understatement…" Ayra muttered to herself as she leaned back in one of the jump chairs and dazed off.

River paced down the halls of the TARDIS in a hurry, hoping that the Doctor hadn't heard the whole kafuffle and let his curiosity take over. Just as she thought everything was clear, a figure appeared from around the corner.

"You said five minutes."

It was him.

Speak of the Devil, River thought.

"I don't recall saying how long I'd be, sweetie." She scolded playfully "I just remember telling you not to move, which you clearly did not do."

"That is true, but I checked the kitchen. You didn't have any tea." The Doctor retorted, equally playful "So I guess that makes two of us with pants on fire tonight."

River, clad in a smug look, walked him backwards, her finger pushing against his bow-tie.

"I also recall saying I'd deal with you after, so go back and wait, please."

The Doctor, back up against the wall, rolled his eyes at his wife's demand.

"Are you trying to make me pay for making your parents wait? Come on, River, I thought you were better than using old grudges for emotional leverage. And I've also apologized many tim-"

"Of course not, you daft old man." She interjected "Of all the things I don't drag my parents into; it's my sex life with you that tops the list."

"Oh, so you were planning on bringing in the other uses of that bed tonight."

"Who said anything about beds, sweetie?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows in surprise and River laughed at his virginal reaction.

"I swear, at times you act as though you've never seen anything adult in your life, and at others, you act like the biggest ladies' man in the universe." She stroked his cheek lightly and sighed "What am I going to do with you, Doctor?"

Just as she finished, a loud beep came from the console room.

"Well, for starters," he said, bopping her on the nose "you can help me find out what that was."

She grabbed his hand to stop him as he darted to the source of the noise.

"How's about I go alone to deal with it and you go and wait like I told you, yeah?" She shot out a little nervously.

"River, a very peculiar sound just came from my TARDIS, a bad-sounding one at that. I will be doing the checking out, and you may join me if you like, but sitting and waiting, especially when there's a noise like that, is not something I will be doing."

She tightened her grasp on his hand and turned him to face her.

"Sweetie, I'm sure it's something I can handle, now go wait. Believe me," she stepped in closer so that she was a mere inch from his face and then softly added "I'll make it up to you."

He took advantage of the lack of space and pressed a quick peck to her lips then let out a light sigh.

"…No." he answered and then began walking towards the console room, River's hand still firmly gripping his.

She rolled her eyes at his stubbornness as she was dragged along the rest of the hallway.

"By the way" he added, shaking her hand off "why have you got your vortex manipulator with you? I thought you said this was better than Stormcage."

Shit. She thought, remembering the broken gadget in her hand, and then quickly hiding behind her back.

"I, um… forgot my diary back in my cell. Was going to pick it up and fill it in while I was having tea."

"Right." He added, turning into the next corridor, leading to the console room.

River once again grabbed his hand to stop him.

"Can you please go back, sweetie? I'm positive I can handle this on my own, no need to worry."

The Doctor stopped and turned to face her again.

"My TARDIS, my repairing." He said, and continued on his path "Besides, is there something you're trying to hide from me over there? Because I don't like secrets. They're so… secret-y."

"Spoilers" she muttered, stopping in her tracks as he entered the room.

"River?" he shouted from the entryway "Do you mind telling me who this girl playing a game on my scanner is?"