River let the wind carry her until she was far away from everyone she loved, completely alone. When the wind stopped, she caught her balance and sat in the frigid grass, ready to steel herself against questioning.

She was immensely surprised to find that the Fields were silent. "What? Is that it, then? You're not going to make me ask him what his name is?"

You already know his name, River Song, the Fields sighed in reply. You are essentially useless to us.

She bristled at that. "I'm not bloody useless, you stupid grass. I'm going to save the Doctor, and you're going to help me."

The Fields didn't bother arguing. River flopped onto the ground to avoid the cold wind still whipping through the plain and thought back to everything she knew about the Doctor's name. With a sad smile, she recalled the night he'd told her his biggest secret.

"You're an idiot!" she declared as they shut the TARDIS doors to ward off angry fire trolls. "You can't just insult the King of Gnamia like that and expect to come out alive!"

"I'm alive, aren't I?" the Doctor whined from the console, quickly piloting them away from any possible fire-related carnage. "Stop your complaining—I took you to see the Flame Diamond!"

She grinned to herself. "Well, I didn't exactly just stop at seeing it, did I?" Without showing the Doctor, she plucked the enormous diamond she'd nicked from the throne room out of her bag and ran it to her room to examine later. She considered it a wedding present to herself.

"River!" he called out to her. "I need your help!"

"Say please, sweetie."

"Please!"

She laughed and ran back to the console, seeing him tangled underneath it all in a mess of wire. "Exactly how did you get yourself into this mess?"

"I was looking for the switch to enable the glow-in-the-dark desktop! I was planning a dance party," he fumed. "Sorry I tried to have a little fun with my wife."

She rolled her eyes and began to untangle him. It seemed like they'd be there for a while. "So," she began, "the TARDIS gave me an important piece of information the last time I was here."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"She told me my name." She paused. "My real one."

He looked a bit confused. "Melody Pond? I thought you already know that. Wait, did I pick you up in the wrong year? Is this your amnesia year?"

"What?"

"Er, nothing, dear. Forget I said anything."

She shook her head and filed it away to question him on later. "Sexy told me my Gallifreyan name the other day. She said, as she's sort of my Time Lord parent, that she picked a name for me and wanted me to have it. I was sort of wondering…why are Gallifreyan names a secret?"

He blanched visibly and tried to change the subject. "Have I ever told you how much I like your eyes? They're such a bluey-blue. Blue is my favorite color, did you know? Well, besides blinka. Blinka's a brilliant color…though I suppose it's a bit before your time. Oh, well. One day, you'll like blinka, too."

"I look forward to it." She looped a wire around his middle. "Doctor, please. I think I have a right to know. Why is it so secret?"

He sighed. "I'm not sure I can tell you."

"Oh, it's just a little Gallifreyan history, sweetie. Indulge me. You were so patient in teaching me the language, and I want to understand." She gently touched his hair and gave him her best smile. "Please?"

He grumbled to himself, "River Song, you're going to be the bloody death of me. All right, all right. Stop with that smile, or I'll do something stupid like bequeath you the TARDIS, or something."

The TARDIS chirped in agreement.

"Okay, so Gallifreyan names aren't regular names. They're more like directives. They're given by Time Lords parents who can see all of time and space, so they can pick out a future for their child. The name is kept secret because some missions, some destinies, are meant to be secret. If you had a name that spelled out the end of the world, you wouldn't want your peers to know. So, we all keep our names a secret and only tell people under very special circumstances."

"And those are?"

"They vary. Most people tell their spouses, or their best friends, depending on the size of the fate they're tied to."

River tried to hide the pang of sadness that the Doctor hadn't picked her to tell his name to when they were married. Then again, he'd already been married before, centuries before her…maybe he'd already told one wife and that had been all he'd been allowed to do. She shouldn't be jealous.

The Doctor, in a rare moment of clarity, noticed. "I haven't told you on purpose. I've not told anyone. I decided long ago that I'd only ever tell one person, the person who filled out a certain requirement."

"Do Time Lords get to pick who they tell it to?"

"Yes. You pick your own circumstances and you can tell only one person, unless forced to say it again."

River considered this as she untangled the last wire from him and released him. He stretched gratefully and booped her on the nose. "Where do you want to go next, eh? Or should we try again for the dance party? Maybe the moment's gone…"

"Doctor," she whispered. Somehow she felt both brave and very vulnerable in that moment. "I think I want to tell you mine."

He stared at her in open shock. "No, River. It doesn't work like that. You have to pick the person you tell carefully."

"You're the only one I want to tell. You're the only one I trust, the only one of my kind. Who else would I tell, husband?" she said expectantly. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she pulled him closer despite his half-formed protests. "Doctor, please. I need you to know. You can help me understand it. You said that names were the same as fates, and I know Gallifreyan—I don't like the sound of mine one bit."

He gulped. "If you're sure about this."

"Oh, dear, you're making me feel like I'm propositioning you or something. We've already crossed that barrier, haven't we, love?" she chuckled while nuzzling his jaw with her nose.

"And how." He took her hand and folded it between his own. "This is more intimate by far, River. More intimate than sex, more intimate than marriage, more intimate than anything. I could do things with your name. I could destroy you with it."

"As if I'd let you. As if I could."

She leaned in close and whispered it with the lilt of learned Old High Gallifreyan. "Doctor. My name is Carminecordilis."

There was a breath of peace between them as the Doctor's eyes grew misty with understanding. She stood, feeling like she'd done something very wrong, until he gently kissed her fingertips. "Thank you," he said quietly. "I will treasure it, River. It's beautiful."

"You know what it means?" she said with an edge of panic. "You understand?"

"Carminecordilis. 'The song that kills with mercy.' Yes, I know what it means. The TARDIS really got it right, didn't she?"

"Don't joke, sweetie."

"I'm not," he said with a loving smile. "I'm really not. She picked the perfect one. It's actually pretty bloody brilliant."

She blinked in confusion. "Why is that?"

"River Song…Carminecordilis..." he whispered into her ear, admittedly sending shivers down her spine. It sounded perfect in his mouth, like he was always meant to say her true name. "You just filled my requirement."

She pulled away. "What?"

"My requirement. I would only ever tell my name to one person, and that person couldn't just be someone I loved or trusted. It had to be someone I felt was meant to help me, someone destined to do the job."

"What job?"

He shook his head. "I'll explain it later. Do you want to do this somewhere glamorous? I wish I could have taken you somewhere nice when you told me yours. It's usually a bigger occasion to tell your name. There's a party and everything."

She laughed. "Darling, we got married on top of a pyramid. I'm not exactly a frilly, fluffy female. Besides, this is our home. I'd rather do it here."

"Too right you are." He took a deep breath. "Don't be scared, okay? It's a bit of a big deal, but it's just a name. It can't hurt you."

She stood resolutely in front of him. "I'm not scared. I'm not running away from you. I promise you, I can take it. If you're ready for this."

He nodded. "All right, honey. Here goes everything." Taking her face in his hands, he kissed her sweetly once and whispered in the smallest and softest of voices his true name.

Her eyes widened when he finished. Slowly she pulled away and sat on the floor, with the TARDIS console humming above them. He joined her on the ground. "Is it too much?"

"No. It's just…wow. That's…that's your destiny?"

"Yeah. Imagine how I feel."

"Is there any way to stop it?"

"What do you think I've been doing all this time?" he sighed. "My name means 'the one who destroys and saves Gallifrey'. I used to run away because I was scared of hurting my people, so I wanted to be far away from them so I could never destroy my planet. But after the Time War, I realized that I had to destroy it. My people had grown too corrupt. They were too close to killing all of the universe and trying to ascend to a higher plane where they could control everything. They wanted to become gods. I couldn't let it happen."

He put his face in his hands and she wrapped her arms around him, peppering his shoulder with comforting kisses. "You did the right thing, sweetie. I know it's hard, but you saved us all."

"But now I have to run even faster than ever before," he moaned. "I have to keep running, because I can't let myself bring them back."

"If you tell your name to someone else, will that summon Gallifrey back?"

"Not exactly. It would be sort of like a homing device, or a beacon. Gallifrey would need to tune into it and use a huge power source to get back from its Time Lock. But by now, the Time Lords know what my name can do. They could route a signal back to find me."

She refused to let that happen. "I'm going to keep you safe. It will never happen, do you hear me?"

"River…"

"No. Listen to me. I'm not just your wife anymore, Doctor, I know your name. I know your darkest secret, and I will die before I let it destroy you."

He smiled darkly and suddenly looked very far away. "Unless I die first."