Good afternoon readers! Three chapters in three day, you guys are lucky :D

Not much happens in this chapter but it was necessary. Enjoy!

*Doctor Who isn't mine!*


"Doctor! You better have a good explanation as to why half my bloody palace is blown up!"

The Doctor winced at the rage in Liz 10's voice as he and River stepped out of the TARDIS. The skeletal remains of the huge pirate-spaceship lay at the bottom of the enormous crater in front of them, the burnt ground around it still smoking. Spot fires has sprung up around them, burning away the remains of what had once been the castle gardens, now an ash-covered wasteland.

"Ah yes, about that," he muttered as he turned to look at the angry woman before him, her curly black hair pulled back in a messy bun and her red cape blowing around her in the wind. "Sorry. Some pirates and I had a bit of a misunderstanding-."

"Wait, this is your fault!?"

"You probably shouldn't have mentioned that, sweetie," River whispered in his ear as the Queen pulled out her gun.

"They were killing innocent people Liz, your people. It was the only way I could stop them."

"By blowing them up?"

"Yes. I-I'm sorry about your palace."

Liz sighed and put away her gun. She turned her eyes to River. "You couldn't have stopped him?"

"No," she replied, her voice barely above a whisper. "Nobody could have stopped him."

Both woman watched as the Doctor walked towards the edge of the crater, his head down. He crouched and picked up a very burnt set of handcuffs, before straightening up and throwing them as far as he could into the crater. He was angry again, River could see that, but no longer angry at the pirates. They were dead and gone now. He was angry at himself. Angry that hundreds of people had died at his hands, yet again.

River walked to her husband and touched his arm tentatively. He entwined his hand with hers and they stood together for a while, hands held and with River's head resting on his shoulder.

"Thank you Doctor," Liz said from behind them. "Thank you for saving my people. Again. You're a bloody idiot but… I'm forever in your debt."

"You and a lot of other people," River remarked. The Doctor gave her a small smile.

"Well, you best be wary of other visiting spaceships in the future. We don't know what the pirates stole, but we do know it's been returned. You're just going to have to be careful because there's a big chance that they might come back," he rattled off quickly, his anger disappearing as quickly as it came. "I suppose we'll be off now. Things to do, people to meet, aliens to annoy – you're lucky we even had time to come here in the first place."

Liz laughed at the bizarre man in front of her whom she had grown to consider one of her greatest friends. "Goodbye Doctor. Goodbye River."

"See you again, your highness," he bowed with a flourish then darted back into the TARDIS. The Queen smiled at River.

"Look after him."

"I'll try," she said and rolled her eyes. "Hope the rebuilding doesn't take too long, ma'am."

River turned and entered the TARDIS, smiling at the Queen before shutting the door. She turned back to her husband as he pulled the lever that sent them into the time vortex.

"Where to next, Proffessor Song?" he asked as she sat down.

"I think it's time for me to leave, sweetie," she murmured sadly as she looked up at him.

The smile on his face froze, then disappeared.

"Oh," he muttered, avoiding her gaze. "I-I suppose that can be arranged."

"You know I can't stay with you forever."

"Why not, River?" he asked desperately "Why not?"

"I-I'm sorry my love."

He ran a hand throught his hair and sighed. He turned back to River to see tears in her eyes, and his gaze softened. He walked forwards and crouched in front of her, tucking a stray blonde, curl behind her ear as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

"There's no need to cry, dear."

"I'm not crying!" she insisted as she hastily wiped away the tear. He laughed and reached up to kiss her on the forehead before turning back to the console. He punched a few buttons and they were off – where exactly, River had no idea.

After a few moments they landed and the Doctor ran to the door, where he rolled back and forth on the balls of his feet excitedly.

"Where are we, sweetie?" River asked as she stood slowly.

"2014, England, Gloucestershire, about 5 miles out of Leadworth."

She raised an eyebrow and stepped past him, throwing open the TARDIS doors. They were parked in the front garden of a stately brick mansion with a blue tiled roof and white-trimmed windows. A path made of large stones set into the ground led up to a veranda with a table and two chairs, several pots overflowing with brightly coloured flowers hung from the ceiling. Tall hedges bordered the garden, dotted with rose bushes of every colour. A large, fluffy ginger cat sat on the veranda railing, a blue, silk ribbon tied in a bow around its neck. River turned to see a familiar looking shiny, red sportscar parked on the road outside and raised an eyebrow.

"I think I've seen that car before."

"Well, you did steal it once," the Doctor laughed as he bounced up the path towards the blue front door.

"Before Berlin?" she smiled and he nodded. "You went to the trouble of stealing it from the police?"

"Only took a flash of psychic paper and it was miraculously mine."

"Why is it here?"

"Figured you wanted to keep it," he said as he scratched the back of his head.

"Wait. This house… is it mine?"

"Only if you want it," he grinned at her shocked expression.

"You bought me a mansion?!" she cried and for a moment he thought she was angry. Before he could back away however, she ran at him and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him fiercely.

"I would have been happy with a tiny apartment in London," she laughed breathlessly when they broke apart. "You didn't need to go through all this trouble for me."

"It was no trouble at all, love," he smiled brightly and then kissed her again. They moved apart, keeping a tight hold of each other's hands, and walked up the path. River traced a finger over the golden number 11 on the blue door and smiled, pulling it open.

The inside of the house was all polished wood and high ceilings. Every wall seemed to be a different colour, ranging from dark red to jade green to royal blue. A large, spiral staircase led up to the floor above, a large, sparkling chandeleir hanging from the ceiling. The long hallway branched off onto several rooms – the kitchen and dining room, the living room, a green-tiled bathroom, and a small room with glass walls that doubled as a greenhouse.

Upstairs was an elegant study and several empty rooms that were probably made to be guest bedrooms. The library was a huge circular room with several layers and a dome roof, every inch of wall taken up by bookshelves. Several over-stuffed lounges were scattered around the room; ample room for reading in comfort. They walked past two more bathrooms before coming to a halt in front of another door, circular gallifreyan carved into its blue surface in gold.

"Welcome, Miss Song…" he said as he opened the door with a bow. "To the master bedroom."

River smiled as she looked around at the room in front of her. It reminded her of her room in the Hospital of the Sisters of the Infinite Schism from all those years ago when she'd given up her regenerations for the Doctor. A large four poster bed shrouded with white, silky curtains sat in the middle of the room, covered in a white quilt. Several large, gold clocks adorned the dark blue wall above the bed, each showing a different time from places around Earth. A large golden giled mirror leant against the wall in the corner, reflecting River's joyful face.

"Oh sweetie," she laughed as the Doctor jumped onto the bed with a gleeful expression on his face. "This is all so… amazing."

"You haven't even seen it all yet," he laughed and jumped back up, pulling her towards the door.

They both ran back down the stairs, the Doctor leading them to the end of the hallway where a smaller flight of stairs that River hadn't noticed seemed to lead down into a basement. They walked to the bottom and he flicked the switch on the wall, lighting up the room they were in. It was like a giant loft, only it was underground. Where windows would normally be there were fish tanks, huge aquariums filled with exotic and often other-wordly ocean life from tiny jellyfish to a giant, red octopus to every kind of fish River had ever seen. Hundreds of glass cases dotted the room containing all manner of historical artefacts; ancient armour, shards of pottery, old alien technology. Numerous different weapons hung around the room and paintings adorned the walls, including several that looked like original Van Gogh's. In one far corner there was a swimming pool, in another was a huge movie-theatre-sized screen in front of several large armchairs. River smiled when she looked up and saw what was lighting the room up. Laced across the ceiling like a huge, glowing spiderweb was strand after strand of white fairy lights.

"You have way too much time on your hands," she laughed.

"I've got a time machine remember," he smiled and tapped her on the nose. He turned to make his way back up the stairs, River by his side. When they reached the front door the ginger cat from outside walked in and rubbed itself up against the Doctor's legs affectionately. He smiled and crouched down to scratch the cat under the chin.

"This is Mouse," he answered in reply to River's unsaid question. "He has quite the unfortunate name."

"Judging by the blue ribbon around his neck, I'm guessing he comes with the house."

"Yep. He's yours to keep." River smiled at her husbands gleeful grin. He stood up and River cupped his cheek with her hand. He leant into her touch and smiled.

"Why are you doing all this, Doctor?" she asked quietly, her thumb softly tracing the line of his cheekbone.

"Do I need a reason other then wanting you to be happy?"

River pulled his face down to hers and kissed him softly. When they broke apart he held her in his arms, wanting to stay like that forever. His River, happy and warm in a place where she could be safe when they weren't off running for their lives. She sighed, breaking the silence.

"You always have another reason."

He growled in frustraion and pressed his forehead to hers. "Why must you always make things so difficult?"

"It's in my job description, sweetie," she laughed, still awaiting his answer. He looked her in the eye and clenched his jaw before continuing.

"I know you've been trying to hide something from me."

River froze. "W-what do you mean?"

"The other week when you made the Empress of Gitakuon angry by flirting with her husband-"

"Well, she shouldn't have been flirting with mine!"

"After she shot you and I had to carry you back to the TARDIS… I did a full body medical scan and… I saw it," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I-I'm sorry, I-"

"Why didn't you tell me?" he interrupted her stammering, his kind eyes staring into hers. River started as she watched the excited smile spread across her Doctor's handsome face. She gave him an equally happy smile in return.

"I wasn't quite sure how to bring it up, to be honest," she laughed. "Now I guess I don't have to."

The Doctor just smiled for a while before bursting out excitedly, "We're gonna have a baby!"

He wrapped his arms around her waist, spinning her around as she giggled like a teenage girl, her golden curls bouncing around as she laughed. When he stopped, he pulled her in for a kiss that made River's toes curl and her legs feel like they were made of jelly.

"Are you sure it'll be safe?" River asked softly after they held each other, her voice slightly muffled against his chest.

"Of course!" he exclaimed, pulling her back to look into her stormy grey eyes. "It'll be the happiest, safest baby in the universe!"

"Are you sure? What about the Silence and K-Kovarian?"

"They won't hurt our baby," he assured her, his eyes darting back and forth between hers. "Trust me, I'm the Doctor."

"Oh, I know sweetie. I know."


Surprise Time baby :D

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