"Hello, Sweetie," she said, in a voice hoarse with grief and fear, but she smiled at her Doctor as he bent his head down to kiss her. The kiss was gentle and sweet, and even Jack felt he had to look away. The Doctor laid his forehead lightly on hers - always and completely, my amazing River Song - and she relaxed and gave him a less tremulous smile this time. "Idris?" she asked, "Is she okay?"

He smiled at her. She wasn't as tough and unfeeling about others as she claimed to be... at least not about those few people she truly loved. And his TARDIS was one of those people. And that - that made him so proud of her again, that after all that brainwashing as a child, being trained to believe she was a psychopath, having to kill him (twice!), after all of that, she was still capable of loving and of putting others before herself. Sometimes she was better at it than he was.

The next kiss was far less sweetly gentle, and Jack laughed, "Get a room, you two."

They broke the kiss and the Doctor helped River to her feet. "Right!" he said, "A room, we need a few more, don't we... thanks for being patient, Old Girl..." and they felt the wash of amusement and timelessness, and River laughed softly at the thought of an 11th-dimensional person needing patience. The Doctor started patting at his clothes, looking for the package they'd picked up, and found it in his left trouser pocket, pulled it out and laid it on the exam table next to the others. He picked at the packaging until it lay open and they saw what was inside.

It was a sapphire as big as River's fist, and Jack whistled in appreciation and picked it up, discarding the wrapping. He held it up to examine it more closely and remarked, "It's a good thing I'm not the man I was when we met, Doctor, because this is a very tempting piece of the pretty side of the universe. And it brings out the color in my eyes." He fluttered his lashes at them both, holding the gem up for comparison. This time River's laugh was stronger and less tentative, and Jack considered that a good day's work. He carefully laid the jewel back on the table with the other two objects - the coral and the vacuum bottle of nanogenes - and looked at them. "Well," he said a bit doubtfully, "Time to figure out the next piece?"

The Doctor pointed. "New door," he said, just as it appeared, "let's see where it goes." He held out a hand to each of them, and they walked together hand-in-hand to the new door.

It opened into the Console Room, and they stood for just a moment before the Doctor dropped the hands he was holding and practically leapt over the railing in his haste to get to the main console. He started patting it and flipping levers and pushing buttons, making encouraging little crooning noises and saying things like that's a good girl. River and Jack shared a look of amused affection and went to join him.

River stood, looking fondly at her husband as he bustled around the console, occasionally throwing her a smile or tapping her nose on his way past. Jack was watching him too, and watching her watching him, and feeling that wistful tug of envy that wasn't quite so bitter now, and he glanced up at the console's main screen. "Um, River?" he said, a little hesitantly; he hated to break into their reunion with the TARDIS, but this was important. "River... look at this." His voice was so strange that it even got through to the Doctor, and they both came to stand next to him, looking up at the console with him. It showed nothing but text, in TARDIS blue.

River Song

My child

Love

River realised she was holding her breath, and let it out, very slowly. "She means I'm the last piece of the puzzle, doesn't she? Because I'm her child. The other three pieces were all physical components of some kind - nanogenes for healing and the coral for growing the new rooms and the sapphire for... for what? Focusing, like a laser? But from me, she needs love. My love, because I'm her child and part of her is here, inside me." She put a hand to her chest and smiled at the two men. "I'll need your help, of course, Doctor. She knows you love her already. And Jack, you don't have to help-"

"-I want to help." he interrupted, "These last few hours have been... I want to help." He held her gaze for a long moment, and then nodded. "All right, what do we need to do?" He looked from one to the other. "Doctor, do you know?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Nope. But we're about to find out." He held out a hand to each of them, so that each of them held the others' hands in a small circle. "Now, we're going to have to close our eyes, I think, to concentrate. And get ready, neither of you have a lot of experience in the 11th dimension. It can be... weird, even by my standards." He closed his eyes and the others hesitated, then did the same. And the waves of information and emotion began to roll over them from the TARDIS and from each of them.

(loss pain fear soothing affection healing growth)

no... so sorry River, didn't mean it my River, the green for your own, alone but together, loving...

(love! lovelovelovelovelove! corridors stretching growing)

anger... fear... grief... shadows, loss, forgottenforgottenforgotten...shadows... remembered? remembered! affection, gratitude, love, so much love...

(love! rooms budding connecting)

despair... pain... friendship... touch... please, touching, affection

always and completely loving

by so many, and so much, and by no one more than me...

And there was a burst of golden-orange sparkly light, like the regeneration light, but huge, so enormous that even the Doctor could not encompass it.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

River awoke to find herself propped up on pillows in her own bed, in her own room that her Doctor and their TARDIS had made for her, the pale green walls embracing her with a kind of love of their own. She sighed contentedly, although she was so tired... she hadn't been this tired since reviving the Doctor... wait! They'd revived the TARDIS; she'd been disconnected and they'd saved her. But where was the Doctor? And Jack - Jack had helped. Where were they? Surely they wouldn't leave her alone. There was a knock at the door, and she looked up. "Um... it's open?" The door swung open and the Doctor stood there, looking at it doubtfully. She smiled at him. "Hello, Sweetie. You can come in."

He looked relieved as he stepped through the door carrying a tray. "You're awake! I wasn't sure, she only let me in here long enough to put you to bed and then I went to get your tea and she wouldn't let me back in." He shook his head fondly and beamed at her as he put the tray down on the little table by her reading chair. "And River, you did it! She's well again, and budding new rooms at a ferocious rate, there's a new squash court, and the billiard room has this glorious stained glass ceiling, and the library-" He stopped for an instant but when River's expression didn't change he continued his cheerful babble. "-the library still has a pool right in the middle of it, she decided we like it that way..." He trailed off as she smiled wider and pointed to the doorway behind him.

"Jack's fine too, thank you very much," said Jack himself, his old cocky grin in place, "I mean, I did die for a little while - human brains aren't built for that - but death doesn't really last long for me these days." He laughed at the expression on River's face. "Come on out of there, kids, so I can give you a hug."

"Give us a minute, would you, Jack?" asked the Doctor, "and shut the door, please; we'll be out in a bit." He turned to River as Jack did exactly that, cocking a suggestive eyebrow at them as he closed the door. "Are you all right, River? I mean, you're not... you don't have... it's because of me you can't regener-"

"Oh, shut up," she said, and kissed him. "I'm fine. You know she wouldn't hurt me."

"I know she wouldn't," he said simply, wondering how much she remembered of the people she had met that day... and of what they had said. "She loves you." River nodded.

"She does. That's what I remember most... that feeling that she loves me, and the orangey gold light. You, of course, and Jack and Rose... I have an impression of shadows and fear, but well, I'm not fully Time Lady, am I? My brain probably can't interpret all of that 11th dimensional stuff, just like Jack's. I kind of wish I remembered more, though... it must have been wonderful."

The Doctor let out a relieved breath he hadn't been aware he was holding. She doesn't remember, he thought, she's safe for now. "It was amazing, River. Not as amazing as you of course," he said as he smiled at her. "But I'll tell you anything you want to know."

"Except spoilers, of course," she said, smiling at him.

"Of course," he heard himself say, "Never spoilers."