A/N: Sorry it's been so long since I last updated. I've had stuff going on. School and such. Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter 3: Fighting The Past

River dodged yet another laser blast, then spun and pressed her back against the Doctor's, waving her gun.

"River? How is it over there?"

"They're all dead."

"Really?"

"No!" Quickly, she wrapped an arm around his waist and yanked him sideways onto the ground, narrowly avoiding a blast which nonetheless covered both of them in soot.

River shifted as the dust cleared to keep herself from leaning too hard on her abdomen. She knew from many sleepless nights that if she did, she would pay for it later.

Finally, the dust cleared, revealing a smoking, empty battlefield. The Doctor pushed River gently off of himself and stood up, dusting his clothes off and holding out a hand to help her up.

"You alright?" he asked. River smiled and clasped his hand.

"I'm fine, Sweetie. Are you?" When he nodded, she spun on her heal and set off for the TARDIS. "Better be getting back soon, they'll be wondering where I am."

The Doctor sighed and watched her back. Why was she always so eager to go back? He just wanted to spend a little quality time with his wife. He shook his head and followed.

By the time the Doctor made it back to the TARDIS, River had set the StormCage coordinates and was leaning against a railing, waiting for him. He smiles hesitantly at her, and she smiles back and leans in to kiss him lightly on the lips before pulling back.

"Ready to go?"

The Doctor looked at her for a moment, wondering where in their time stream she was. He had been married for a little over a month now, but she hadn't once mentioned it or tried to act on it. Shaking his head, he pushed the thought away and focused on her question.

"Yep. " He smiled and pulled a lever, and the TARDIS shook and spun into the vortex. As he turned back to her, he glimpsed her pulling her hand hastily from her stomach. He wondered at it, but didn't ask. He trusted her enough to tell her what he needed to know.

"You know what?" Suddenly, the Doctor reached out and spun a dial, stopping the TARDIS mid-flight. "What do you say we go somewhere nice for a change? I'll make it in the past so they won't miss you." Without waiting for an answer, he went to work. River smiled faintly and set her hand against her stomach again. As soon as he stopped moving, she moved her hand back to the rail and leaned against it, bracing herself. The TARDIS whirred, much more willingly then before, jostling and shaking. The Doctor whooped, and then the TARDIS stopped. The Doctor grabbed River by the hand and pulled her to the door, chattering excitedly. River tuned him out, making comments now and then so he wouldn't feel ignored, and looked around in awe at the beautiful red and silver garden he led her into. She turned to smile at him and caught the tail end of his sentence.

"-soaring silver colonnades! Took your parents here once, though that didn't really work out so well. Turns out, Apalapachia will have a plague in about, oh, a hundred years, and your mother got trapped inside the treatment center. But actually-" He went on and on, and River laughed and followed him. These gardens really were quite beautiful at sunset, close to the way she would have imagined Gallifrey. That train of thought, as so many did, led to thoughts of her secret. Her baby.

It had been almost five months now since she and the Doctor had consummated their marriage, and she had been sick for about a week after he dropped her off, achingly, violently, chillingly sick. However, after that one week spent in the StormCage infirmary, everything had stopped. She felt fine, and her belly stayed firm and flat. She wasn't sure if that meant she had miscarried, and even though it scared her, she hadn't been able to convince herself that another test on the TARDIS would go unnoticed by the Doctor. And she most definitely was not going to turn to the StormCage guards for a pregnancy test. So, she'd tried to forget it, acted like it had never happened. Which turned out to be a good thing, as she had since only run into the Doctor's from her past.

River sighed and pushed those thoughts away. Here she was, safe, and with her Doctor, in a beautiful garden. Why dwell on the past, even if it was his future? Suddenly, she didn't want to be here anymore, in her parents' past. Why dwell on the past, after all, when there was always the present. She walked over to where the Doctor was busy examining a stone fountain, and gently pulled on his arm.

"Can we leave, Sweetie? Go get some chips, maybe? Haven't had a good chip in ages. Prison food, you know." She smiled, and the Doctor barely protested as she steered him back into the TARDIS.

Later, alone on her bed, she rested her hand on her stomach while she paged through her diary, laughing at some parts and crying at others. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She got out the psychic paper and sent the Doctor a message: 'Fancy a night out?'

A/N: So. Thanks for reading, hope you liked it. Review for more! Offer ideas, critiques, anything. I'm working on Chapter 5 now. That's all for now, folks.