Chapter Ten

River woke in the middle of the night feeling like something was out of place. It didn't take her more than a second to figure out what it was. There weren't any other prisoners being held on this block of Stormcage since no one else warranted the same kind of security that she did. Considering that she had never caught one of the guards here sleeping the gentle snoring sound was definitely out of the ordinary.

Looking over the edge of her cot like bed River was surprised to find the Doctor laid out on his back sleeping on the cement floor. He had kicked off his shoes, but otherwise was still fully dressed. His clothing held several burn marks and was covered in dust or perhaps ash, either way it was clear that he had been in a fight of some description. His face was smudged with ash and blood. He was breathing easily and didn't appear to be in any distress so River assumed that if he had been injured he had sacrificed some regeneration energy to heal.

River watched as the Doctor twitched in his sleep and suddenly realized that this was the first time she'd ever seen him properly asleep and not drugged, struck, electrocuted or otherwise artificially senseless. She hated to wake him, but the whole point of her being in prison for a crime that had never actually been committed was to make the Silence believe that the Doctor was dead so that they would stop hunting him. The fact that she slipped out at night was easy enough to cover up, but if he was found sleeping on her cell floor word was probably going to get out.

"Doctor?" River said gently. "Sweetie?"

The Doctor jerked awake with a painful gasp. He stared up at River with his eyes wide with fear for a moment before he visibly relaxed. Before River could ask any questions he got to his knees next to the bed to steal a kiss. Keeping River engaged in the kiss he shrugged off his filthy jacket, yanked free his bow tie, shed his ruined shirt, and casually invited himself under the covers. Needing to breathe River tilted her head back to escape causing the Doctor to turn his affections towards her throat.

"When did you become so graceful?" River teased. "You slunk in here like a cat."

"I'm full of surprises." The Doctor chuckled as he nestled in closer.

"Finding you on my floor in the middle of the night was quite the surprise."

"I didn't want to wake you." The Doctor replied. "You looked so peaceful."

"Like you I don't need a lot of sleep, but I've been doing a lot of running around lately."

"For an incarcerated woman you do keep a busy schedule."

"That would be your fault, Doctor." River teased. "Between your 'shopping list' and our dates I barely get an evening to myself anymore."

"What can I say?" The Doctor settled in against River's chest. "I can't stay away from you."

"The TARDIS must be getting jealous."

"What?"

"I've always thought of myself as the 'other woman' in your life, but now it seems like you're spending more time with me than her. I can barely remember the last time I got to see the TARDIS, you've been wearing that Vortex Manipulator for months now."

"No I haven't. That's just a time illusion from all our jumping around."

"Is not, I keep close track of our time lines. Plus you never take it off, it's starting to chafe."

River reached down under the covers between them to take the Doctor's wrist where he was still wearing the thick leather banded Vortex Manipulator to try and remove it. The Doctor pulled his wrist away from her and distracted her from going for it again by rolling on top of her. With her hands still free River reached up and tenderly scratched down either side of his ribs.

"Come on, Doctor, take that thing off."

"No way." The Doctor chuckled.

"Why not?"

"I don't take it off around you, my Dear," the Doctor purred "because you are a notorious thief and I don't want to lose it."

"I have one of my own, Sweetie."

"Not like this one."

"Ooo, what makes your's so special?" River asked with interest.

"It belonged to someone very important."

"Oh? Who?"

"Me."

River rolled her eyes and shoved her captor off. The Doctor accepted being pushed away, but once on his back he reached over and grabbed River and rolled her up onto his stomach. Wrapping his arms around her lower back he closed his eyes. River laid her head down on his chest and listened to his twin hearts beating. She smiled as she was lifted up when he took a deep breath. In the low light of the cell she could just make out the spiral marks across his skin.

"You keep telling me you've always had this," River said as she traced the marks "but every time I see it I can't help but think that it looks out of place. Did all Time Lords have marks like this?"

When the Doctor didn't reply River pushed herself up and discovered that he'd fallen asleep again. Looking over the side of the bed at the burnt jacket and shirt that the Doctor had discarded on the floor River tried to figure out what weapon would have caused them. It looked like some form of laser pulse. She had thought about asking what he had been up to, but she knew that if he had wanted to talk about it he would have.

"Just what were you fighting that wore you out like this?" River mused.

Although she was tired as well River knew that they couldn't risk both of them falling asleep and having a guard sneak up on them. They didn't often come down the halls at night, but it did happen from time to time. As tired as the Doctor seemed to be there was even the chance that he would sleep through till dawn if not woken, and they would certainly be discovered then.

River went back to tracing the intricate spirals over the Doctor's heart. She thought back to the first time she had managed to get his shirt off, but couldn't clearly recall if the marks had been there or not. It had been such a struggle to get him comfortable with the idea of intimate contact that the last thing that had been on her mind at the time had been checking him for birthmarks. On the one hand the Doctor was amazingly romantic, but he had also been painfully prudish.

"That certainly isn't a problem anymore." River smiled.

As River continued to lazily trail her nail along the pattern the Doctor's peaceful breathing began to change to a quick shallow pace. Trying to calm the apparent nightmare River shifted her weight off of him to allow him to breathe easier and ran her hand through his hair. When he continued to spiral into the grip of nightmare River decided it would be best to wake him. She gave his shoulder a soft push and he instantly woke. He looked around lost until he saw River.

"I love you, you know that, right?"

"I do." River smiled. "Although, those used to be words that you only ever whispered in my ear...you never used to admit to it out loud the way you do now."

"I was a fool before."

"No arguments here."

Stealing a quick kiss the Doctor reluctantly got out of bed. He picked up his discarded clothes and pulled the shirt and jacket back on, stuffing the bow tie in his pocket. Looking at the table that took up most of the space in River's cell something caught his attention. River had wondered if he was going to notice it, it was the last item on the list that he had sent her to get.

The Doctor picked up the dull copper ring that was about the size of a dinner plate in diameter and about an inch thick. It was engraved with tiny circles and lines in an intricate pattern. She still had no idea why the Doctor wanted the random antiques. She was just about to ask him what it was for when he put it back down. River could have sworn that he was far enough along in his time line to have already asked her to deliver the items, but clearly he had no idea that he wanted the ring yet.

Something tugged at River's memory about the last time she had seen him that his time line had made sense then either. Concerned River sat up on the edge of the bed. As she did so an alarm at the far end of the block went off. The Doctor didn't seem surprised by the alarm and calmly turned to River.

"I should go."

"Doctor, where are my parents?"

"They're fine." The Doctor leaned down and kissed River's forehead. "I have to go. I'll be back soon, I might even bring the 'other woman' this time."

"Doctor," River said firmly "I want to see my parents. Where are they?"

"They're on Earth, I'll take you to see them the next time I visit."

River was distracted by shouting at the far end of the hall, it sounded like something had the guards in a panic. When she turned back the Doctor had used his Vortex Manipulator and vanished. River sighed sadly.

"That's the second time you've lied to me about my parents."

Getting to her feet River crossed the small space over to table. Ripping a page out of the back of the journal that the Doctor had given her she wrote a short note in Old High Gallifreyan. With the guards clearly distracted by something else River didn't see the harm in slipping out for a quick trip. She had a Perception Filter on her Vortex Manipulator that made it look like an normal gold bracelet until used.

Putting the personal time device on she set it to a hundred years before the last set of time coordinates that the Doctor had given her. She never even assumed that he had given her the exact dates that he would be at the coordinates considering how secretive he'd been about these deliveries so she didn't think she could find him that easily. Picking up a medium sized black box that was on the table she jumped into the vortex.

Walking through the deserted Great Hall of the palace on Nezrine River made her way quickly to the throne room. She had left signs and messages to make finding the items easier on the other worlds, but on this one she knew he would come directly to the throne of the old King. River opened the box that was coded to only open for herself and the Doctor and dropped the note inside before placing it on the throne.

"No more deliveries, Doctor. I'm holding this one for ransom."