Hello! How is everyone? I hope you're all well. Anyway, again - I have two chapters for you. Seriously, I'm really sorry that I keep taking so long. With this fic nearing completion (will be about 25 chapters, excluding prologue and epilogue) and school beginning to prepare for the Mocks, life is getting a bit much so this story is slowing down. But never fear; there's plenty more inside my head to come for these characters!
Anyway; enjoy your double-dosage of chapters today!

Chapter 21: Explanations

Jack spluttered and choked on his drink. "Daughter? You two have a kid? How?"

River laughed. "I think you know how-"

Jack intercepted her point. "Yes, yes, but such pleasant topics aside. Are you two even compatible? I mean, human and Time Lord..."

River spoke again. "Indeed, human DNA is incompatible with Time Lord DNA. However, I'm not human. Not completely. I'm human plus Time Lord. So we're compatible enough to have children."

Jack looked at them sorrowfully, remembering a dark time in his own history. He didn't have a good track record when it came to families. "What was her name?" He asked gently. The sadness in the Doctor and River's eyes was almost too much to bear; remembering the time before their daughter was gone would be easier for them.

"Blysse. We called her Blysse." River spoke, a smile playing on her lips. She looked at her husband, who continued. "Oh Jack, you should've seen her. She was the most beautiful little baby. And when she was a toddler, she wouldn't let go of my legs. Ever."

River laughed lightly, voice shimmering with remembered love and care "I thought she'd forsaken me for a while! It'd be typical for her to cause you to crash the TARDIS!" The Doctor laughed too. Jack smiled sadly.

"And then, when she was about four, do you remember?" River smiled broadly. The Doctor gasped. "Oh yes! She got a bunch of wires from the TARDIS and turned her favourite plastic elephant into a robotic plastic elephant with its own artificial intelligence. You could see the Time Lord in her!"

They continued to reminisce for a few more minutes, working their way up through the years. Then their faces fell. Jack leant forward, paying apt attention. This was when they lost her.

"She was nine..." River said sadly, grasping the Doctor's arm as sadness washed over her. "Nine years old. The Would-Be End came. We watched as hell tore its way out on this planet. And as we watched, we knew we'd have to help. We couldn't say no. It wouldn't have been morally right. But whilst we helped..." She gave in, looking at the Doctor for support. He finished for her. "They took her." He spoke so softly that Jack almost couldn't hear him. But the sadness in his voice was so deep... The Doctor hung his head slightly.

"Don't worry about that right now," Jack said finally. He didn't want to sound rude, but having looked at his watch, he had realised that they were out of time.

"I'm sure you'll find her eventually. But right now, we have to deal with Eyphah. Then I promise to help you with Blysse any way I can." Jack smiled at them kindly as they stood to leave. "Thank you, Jack." River said quietly as she passed him on her way to the door. The Doctor followed her, Jack coming through last.

They exited the TARDIS again just in time to catch Eyphah's arrival. There was a crackle through the air as she coalesced about five feet above the planet's surface with a flash of blue electricity. Her shock of orange curls bounced merrily, in starch contrast to her expression.

Her face was drawn and pale, her eyes wide with fear and anxiety. She was older again, perhaps twenty. She was thin - too thin, like she hasn't been eating properly. And she was writhing in intense pain.