NOTE: Congratulation to the new Doctor, I'll leave this blank in case there are people not interested in spoilers. Eleven will still always be first in my heart, but I think we are all going to love Twelve as well and I'm personally excited about the choice.

Chapter Fourteen

River stood a few feet from the closed TARDIS doors with her arms crossed over her stomach. She had felt somewhat sick since hearing that she was literally in two places at once. Right now she was watching the Doctor tearing through a closet while muttering and swearing in frustration as he tossed various objects out onto the floor in his search. All he had told her so far was that if she stepped outside the protection of the TARDIS that she would cease to exist, but the Doctor's new frantic energy told her that there were far graver consequences to what had happened. Lost in the depths of the closet the Doctor continued to snarl at himself.

"What are you looking for?" River asked for the tenth time.

"Something that should be right here, where I last left it!"

"I don't know how you find anything around here." River commented as she stepped up to the closet door.

The Doctor made a noise that sounded vaguely of triumph.

"Success, Sweetie?"

The Doctor didn't answer he simply emerged with a tiny glass vial filled with a shimmering blue liquid. He held out the bottle for her to take. When she did he closed his hands around hers. River's already sour stomach twisted further when she saw the somber expression on his face. River knew he trying to find the right words by the way his eyes tracked back and forth over her features while he chose those words carefully in his mind. Thinking before speaking was something he only did in special circumstances which did not help put River at ease.

"Doctor?"

"River this is so important, you must keep this with you at all times. *All* times." The Doctor pressed the bottle against her palm firmly. "If I ask you to I need you to drink this the moment that I do."

"'*If* you ask'?" River repeated. "Not '*when* you ask'?"

"I always chose my words carefully." The Doctor smiled sadly. "I love that you notice, and I hate it all at the same time."

"I know you do." River pulled her hands away and looked at the brilliant liquid. "What is it?"

"Don't worry it has no scent, no flavour, goes down very smoothly."

"That doesn't tell me what is it. What is it?"

The Doctor hesitated to answer. River could see him trying to figure out a way to lie to her without being caught while at the same time knowing that he wasn't capable of it.

"Doctor, what is it?" River repeated in a tone that was not to be ignored.

"It's complicated."

"You've been saying that with increasing frequency lately."

"Well my life has become increasingly complicated lately." The Doctor replied in frustration.

River gave the Doctor a sympathetic look, but was still holding the bottle waiting for a clear answer. Still unwilling to answer and knowing that River could always see through his lies, particularly when she was expecting one, the Doctor fidgeted in indecision. River waited patiently while he worked things out in his head.

"I'll make a deal with you." The Doctor proposed. "If the time comes that you have to drink that I'll tell you what it is right after you do so."

River contemplated what she considered a fairly poor bargain. The Doctor searched her doubtful expression with a desperate look of his own that forced River to show him some mercy. River smiled warmly and tucked the bottle into her bra. The Doctor visibly relaxed at seeing her accept.

"Deal." River nodded.

"You are the bravest woman I know," the Doctor beamed proudly "the bravest I have ever known."

"To trust you? Is that your definition of bravery? Some might call it foolish."

"The line between bravery and foolishness is always drawn by success, and you never fail." The Doctor smiled. "At the very least you never fail to amaze me."

"Flattery and sweet talk." River purred as she wrapped her arms around the Doctor's waist. "It will get you everywhere."

The Doctor chuckled and flushed brightly. River realized that she couldn't remember the last time she'd seen him blush, even though it was something that she could usually get him to do with even just a slightly sultry look. The Doctor leaned in and gave her a delicate kiss. Despite his gentle touch River couldn't keep herself from tensing slightly in anticipation of a painful bite. As far as her experience went he had been latching down on her lip more often than not lately, and tended to draw blood when he did so. The Doctor instantly pulled back with his brow knit in concern.

"River?"

"It's nothing."

"It's definitely something. Are you afraid of me?"

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Am I being ridiculous?" The Doctor asked seriously. "You said our relationship had changed...have I been hurting you?"

River honestly didn't know how to answer the question. With her memories of the true abuse she had suffered having been erased the only ones she was left with were more rough play than anything else. At least that's how she thought she remembered it. River rubbed at her wrist, trying to remember if it had recently been broken or not. Thinking back over the past few months as best she could River couldn't remember a time when she hadn't retaliated in kind to his advances or flat out encouraged his new behaviour, so she didn't think she could consider it abuse.

"River," the Doctor repeated when he didn't get an answer "are you afraid of me in the future?"

"No." River answered automatically.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course." River smiled confidently.

The Doctor gave River a suspicious look and opened his mouth to say more, however before he could ask any more clarifying questions Amy and Rory appeared at the top of the stairs. They were both dressed in night clothes and appeared to have been arguing. As they spotted River and the Doctor Amy got a triumphant expression and gave Rory a shove.

"See?" Amy pointed to River. "She's right there. Your version was the dream."

"No, not that's not possible." Rory shook his head. "How is that possible? She wasn't there, we went to Eylsiandia, but River wasn't there. I clearly remember that she wasn't there."

"Well there she is, Stupid." Amy rolled her eyes. "I had the same dream, but clearly it was just that: a dream."

"No, I had a dream that River was there and you had a dream that she wasn't, and it is vise versa for what we feel is reality. We didn't just 'have the same dream'." Rory pointed out. "How can any of this just be a dream?"

The question caused Amy to pause as she tried to work out the logistics in her head. When she failed she looked to the Doctor. The guilty smile that crept onto his face made her heart sink.

"Oh no," Amy sighed "Doctor, what is going on?"

"Bit of a Paradox Pickle I'm afraid." The Doctor replied. "On the plus side you both get to win your argument, and that doesn't happen very often. You're both right, River was and wasn't in Eylsiandia."

Amy and Rory listened as the Doctor explained to the best of his knowledge how the TARDIS had protected River during a paradox shift to allow her to stay in both time lines at the same time. The Doctor hated the increasing look of horror that spread across Amy's face as he explained the situation.

"So River is here...but unfortunately she's also somewhere else." The Doctor finished.

"Where else?" Amy asked.

"Still working on that." The Doctor admitted before turning to River. "River, I don't suppose you have any idea on where you could be?"

"None. Sorry."

"I was afraid of that."

"Doctor," Amy stepped up to River and took her hand "how many people are even capable of taking River out of her own time line?"

"Ah, yes, excellent question." The Doctor nodded thoughtfully. "Well, there's the obvious one."

"Obvious?" Rory asked.

"He means himself." River clarified.

"Ah."

"Right, there's me." The Doctor glanced at River. "Let's hope it wasn't me. There's...um...no, they couldn't do that, how about...no...oh, I know! No, wait, she's dead. It could have been... You know, let's not worry about that right now. Right now we need to go to River's cell, see if there is any evidence there, and if at all possible perhaps we could pick up a certain copper thing..."

The Doctor trailed off his plan as he looked to River with a hopeful expression. River nodded.

"The Crown of Rassilon is hidden under my mattress." River instructed.

"Brilliant." The Doctor clapped his hands together. "Let's go!"

"Doctor, you can't seriously still be thinking of this whole the Matrix thing." Amy said sternly. "Not now."

"I'm not." The Doctor assured. "However, the Crown of Rassilon is very powerful and I'd rather not leave it laying around now that I've stirred it up. It needs to be safe in the TARDIS."

"That's another thing I don't understand." Amy said. "If all these bits are so important and powerful why didn't you collect them and have them on the TARDIS long ago?"

"Temptation, Amy. I hid them away in the Universe to keep the temptation of them at a bit of a distance. I've never been one to be good at resisting temptation if it's too near by."

"He's not lying." River chuckled.

"Come on, let's go, the longer it takes us to put River back together the harder it will be." The Doctor stressed.

"We're not even proper dressed." Rory pointed out.

"It doesn't matter." The Doctor said as he headed for the doors.

"How can it not matter?"

"If we get spotted we'll be shot on sight no matter what we're wearing." The Doctor replied brightly.

"Comforting." Rory sighed.

"Be careful." River said as she kissed Amy's cheek.

"You're not coming with us?"

"She can't leave the TARDIS." The Doctor explained from his place by the doors.

"I always seem to be a prisoner of some sort, don't I?" River said trying to sound light hearted about it.

"River..." Amy started.

"Go with the Doctor, he needs more help than I do."

Amy threw her arms around her daughter and hugged her tightly. River returned the affection and then gently pushed Amy towards the open TARDIS doors where the Doctor and Rory were waiting. The Doctor held his hand out for Amy to take and she accept it. Before leaving the Doctor glanced back at River. She gave him a reassuring smile and motioned for him to leave. The Doctor hesitated to leave but eventually nodded and stepped outside.

They were inside a dry and mostly featureless cave that had no entrance points, just a pocket of air in the centre of rock. The Doctor lead Amy by the hand across the smooth cavern floor and Rory easily kept pace. The Doctor kept looking back over his shoulder at the TARDIS as they moved away.

"You don't trust River to be alone with the TARDIS, do you?" Amy asked.

"More like I don't trust the TARDIS to be alone with her."

"What?"

"TARDISs hate paradoxes, they will go to great lengths to avoid them, and they tend not to invite them inside. They don't even like your standard time anomalies let alone a paradox as powerful as River is right now. And yet..."

"And yet the TARDIS actively helped her stabilize as one." Amy finished the thought.

"Exactly. Very bizarre behaviour for a TARDIS." The Doctor stopped and looked back at the TARDIS. "I don't know why she did it. I don't know why she didn't just let time get rewritten."

"Can the TARDIS do that?" Rory asked. "Just 'let time be rewritten' when that person is already inside?"

"It happens all the time." The Doctor replied. "You two don't notice it, I do."

"Sounds confusing."

"It is."

The Doctor finished the conversation by stalking off towards the far wall of the cavern. Reaching into his pocket he handed Amy and Rory each a ring. He had a third that he slipped on himself.

"Put these on."

"What are they?" Rory asked as he put on the dull silver ring.

"It's a special kind of bio-damper that basically makes you uninteresting to anyone who sees you at first glance. Gives you a shot at just walking past someone without being noticed."

Having given his explanation the Doctor pressed his palm against a seemingly blank piece of the cavern wall. With a bright shimmer of light the trio was teleported to the interior of Stormcage. The Doctor stepped out protectively in front of Amy and Rory when he heard the prison alarms going off, fearing that he had triggered them. Rory looked around, but he didn't see anyone coming to arrest them.

"What do we do?" Amy whispered.

"Act casual." The Doctor suggested.

"Oh, right, act casual, of course, because it's totally normal to be breaking into a prison." Amy hissed.

"I don't think the alarm is for us." The Doctor said as he relaxed.

"Why not?"

"For one thing, it is ringing out all over, I can hear it coming from nearly every point around. For another, someone would be here by now. Stormcage is the most secure prison since Alkinar Prison was shut down for inhumane conditions. Guards would be here by now. This could be a good thing, a distraction."

Rory and Amy decided to go along with the idea and followed the Doctor along the empty corridor. When they came to River's cell the Doctor stopped them and had them wait just outside. Using the sonic to unlock the door he slid the bars open. The first step inside brought along with it the crunch of glass under his shoe. Kneeling down the Doctor picked up a broken shard and inspected it.

"What is it?"

"The glass from a broken Vortex Manipulator, that's a good thing." The Doctor replied.

"Good how?" Amy asked.

"Well I've been worried about it being me who stole River from her time stream, but I really don't have any need to be traveling by Vortex Manipulator seeing as I have the TARDIS. Also it means there is a good chance that River broke her attacker's only means of escaping this time."

"So River could still be here." Rory said hopefully.

"She might be the cause of the alarms." Amy added.

"Maybe." The Doctor replied doubtfully.

The Doctor's attention was drawn away from the broken glass and towards the small amount of ash and smudge stains on the concrete floor next to River's cot. Getting down on his hands and knees the Doctor inspected the ash marks on the floor carefully. He picked up a small amount of the ash on his index finger and licked it off.

"Oh Doctor, gross." Amy lamented.

"That is disgusting." Rory added.

Ignoring the pair the Doctor leaned down and licked the floor directly to get a better taste. Amy and Rory both made noises of disapproval. The Doctor jumped back to his feet with a concerned expression etched across his features.

"Dalek." The Doctor muttered as he smacked his lips distastefully. "Definitely Dalek."

"There was a Dalek here?" Amy fretted. "You don't think River is..."

"No, no, River was not killed by a Dalek here." The Doctor assured. "There wasn't a Dalek here, however the ash on the floor is from something that was hit by a Dalek pulse weapon."

"What does that mean?"

"I have no idea." The Doctor paced back and forth a few feet. "Unless..."

"Unless?"

"Never mind."

The Doctor went to search under the mattress for the copper ring, but only found a neatly folded piece of paper. Picking up the paper the Doctor opened it. Looking at the note he sat down the bed, or rather his knees gave out from under him and the bed happened to catch his fall. Amy and Rory waited anxiously while the Doctor stared at the paper. He looked almost frozen in time as he sat with his eyes locked on the page. It wasn't a long note, or at least Amy didn't notice his eyes moving back and forth as though he was reading something long. Above them the alarm was still sounding incessantly.

"Doctor?" Amy asked in concern.

The Doctor didn't respond or even blink.

"Doctor?" Rory tried as well.

"Doctor, please..." Amy stepped closer.

"Rory, find out what all that noise is about." The Doctor said in a monotone voice as he continued to stare at the note.

"Um...what?" Rory asked looking to Amy

"Go. Take this." The Doctor reached in his pocket and tossed his psychic paper wallet to Rory without ever looking up. "Go, ask the first person you see, I'm sure they'll tell you."

"Uh..." Rory started.

"Just go...please, Rory."

Rory exchanged a worried expression with Amy. She nodded and nudged him away to encourage him to leave. Rory glanced at the sullen Doctor one last time before nodding and heading off. The Doctor continued to stare at the note that had been left for him, lost in a trance. Amy came up and sat down next to the Doctor. She looked at the page that had a line of Old High Gallifreyan scrawled on it in messy script. Below the line was a large symbol made of concentric circles, Amy had no way of knowing what it was but it was a drawing that Aleena would have identified instantly after years of washing it off the walls of her son's room.

"Doctor?"

"I don't know what to do, Amy." The Doctor replied in a hoarse whisper. "What do I do?"

"I don't know, what's wrong?"

"Everything."

"What is that drawing?" Amy asked hoping to get a more useful answer this time.

"It's a Gallifreyan symbol, more like a seal, that was used for one purpose only..." The Doctor trailed off as he stared down at the note again.

"Doctor? What is it? What was it's purpose?"

"It's used as an 'Official Declaration of War.'"

"War?"

"It gets worse."

"It does?"

"The handwriting...it's mine."