A/N: Welcome back to a brand-new chapter!

This chapter is a bit of a sad one but I hope you enjoy it anyway :)

Chapter 6: Lost River

After yet another uncontrollable nightmare, River woke up, thankfully, back in her husband's bedroom, except this time there was something disturbingly different about it. Seeing a strange white glow at the corner of her eye, she looked toward the wall on the opposite side of the room, directly across from the bed, and saw the smirking face of her former guardian and tormentor, Madame Kovarian.

"Not long now, sweetie…" the witch sniggered at her just as her face was covered by what appeared to be a hatch sliding shut, plunging the room in darkness once more. River screamed in horror.

"River?" the soothing sound of her husband's voice whispered from her side, having seemingly woken up from her scream. "What's wrong?" He flipped over on his side to face his wife fully and gently wrapped a comforting arm around her to calm her.

"On the wall!" she exclaimed, still in panic, and pointed to the place where she saw Kovarian's twisted smirk. "She was there! I saw her!"

"Saw who?" the Doctor frowned at the wall, clearly seeing nothing.

"Kovarian!" River admitted without thinking, feeling shudders wracking her entire body. "She was looking at me through a hatch of some sort! It was right there on the wall before it closed! She could be in the TARDIS! How did she get in the TARDIS?" She never thought she'd see her former guardian ever again after her mother allegedly killed her in the aborted '5:02' timeline, and she'd be damned if she ever saw her again. Then again, that was an aborted timeline; who's to say she somehow survived when the original timeline was restored?

"Okay, River, calm down," her husband said as he slowly got out of bed and grabbed his sonic screwdriver from off the nightstand. "Let me go check." Not that there was anything to check, he thought, since at this point he knew what was really going on. These hallucinations had happened years ago, back when Amy was experiencing the same thing as a Flesh avatar; of course, he expected the same thing—or at least something similar—to happen to River as well now that she was revealed to be a Flesh avatar herself.

"No, I should go check," she insisted as she attempted to get out of bed as well. "I have my gun." She reached for said gun from off the nightstand on her side of the bed, knowing it would be much more useful than a screwdriver.

No surprise, the Doctor wasn't going to let her. "It's alright, River," he said as he put his hand up in a 'stop' motion for her to stay where she was. "Don't get up. I doubt Kovarian is really here, but let me check anyway, just to be sure." Deep down, he knew for a fact that Kovarian wasn't on board the TARDIS at all, but to ease River's worries (as well as keep up appearances, since she still wasn't aware that she wasn't in her real body), he decided to go anyway. "I'll just peek outside and into the next room over," he said as he walked to the bedroom door, sonic gripped tightly in hand. "I'll only be a minute."

"That's what Mother said before she was attacked in the kitchen," River pointed out nervously. "Please, my love, I don't want the same thing happening to you…or worse…"

"I'll be alright," he said, shaking his head before changing his mind. "In fact, it might be easier to just scan the TARDIS here with the sonic. I'll do that instead." He then used his sonic to scan the room as well as the rest of the space/time-machine, using his left hand instead of his right hand, which River thought was strange, as she knew his current incarnation to be right-handed. Once the scan was complete, her husband checked the results and said, "Scan complete. There's no one else on board but us. You can stop worrying now, River."

"When was the last time you updated your screwdriver?" she asked, failing to prevent herself from doubting his words.

"Three hours ago," her husband confirmed as he returned to bed. "We're fine, River, really. You don't have to worry anymore. I'm sure you just dreamt seeing Kovarian's face. Even if she survived the aborted timeline, she can't get to you here. Nothing can get inside the TARDIS without my explicit permission."

"Need I remind you that the Silence have snuck on board the TARDIS before, without you knowing?" his wife pointed out, still in a huge panic. "Back when they attempted to blow up the TARDIS? Who's to say they could still be on board now?"

"River, I just said there's no one else on board but us," the Doctor sighed as he curled back up next to her. "Please, relax. Try to get some more sleep. Let me help you."

He attempted to place a hand on one of her temples to try to use his telepathic abilities to force her to sleep, since she was being a bit difficult with her unnecessary paranoia taking over her mind and preventing her from getting the proper rest that she needed as an expecting mother, but she stopped him, shaking her head. "I don't want to sleep right now. I just want to lay here… With you."

"Fine," her husband nodded before he began using a different tactic to calm his wife's nerves. He leaned over her and lightly pressed his lips against hers, and she kissed him back for a few minutes before her husband gently laid his head across her shoulder and rested his other hand over her belly, directly over the womb that held their (Flesh) unborn daughter. To him, it felt wrong to kiss a fake version of his wife, but since this was the only version he had with him, he felt he had no choice but to go along with it, especially since he wasn't remotely ready to reveal the terrible truth. He had been at this for three days at this point, and he still had no luck in finding his real wife, but he vowed from the very beginning that he would never stop looking, but at the same time he felt he needed to keep up the act just as much. He didn't know what would happen if the Flesh River found out the truth too early, but he didn't want to find out, lest he end up breaking the signal to her real body before he was actually able to find her.

His thoughts were interrupted when River asked with concern, "What happened to your hand?" At this, she placed her own hand over his and rubbed gently at the bruised marks as if this would magically heal them.

"Nothing," he lied with a shrug. "Just me being my clumsy old self. Nothing to worry about." Deep down, he knew he did that to himself on purpose. He was so angry at himself for what he let happen to River and his In-Laws, so he punished himself for it by almost breaking his hand on the side of the main console, and what was worse was that he did not regret it one bit, knowing he deserved every bit of the pain he felt afterwards.

River doubted that clumsiness could've caused such injuries, but she stayed silent, regardless, to which the Doctor greatly appreciated, knowing she would not have approved his decision of self-harm. Not that it mattered to him anymore now that the damage was already done.

However, he knew that the damage could easily be fixed, and he decided to for River's sake. In that moment, he willed his Regeneration Energy to manifest and heal the damage to his hand as well as his inner soul.

Then again, River was very against this idea, as she suddenly yelped in shock and anger, "Doctor!"

"What?" he frowned in a 'what's the big deal?' manner. Would she rather he have a bruised hand for the rest of his life?

"You know how I feel about you wasting your energy like that!" she chastised him, punching him hard in the chest.

"Ow!" he exclaimed before sighing, "River, you're tired, you're hormonal… You need to stop worrying so much, not just about me but about everything else too. Take deep breaths. Keep breathing. It's vitally important that you breathe when you're in this condition."

"You think I'm not capable of taking care of myself when I'm like this?" she snapped in an annoyed tone. "I can take care of myself just fine! I don't need a doctor!"

A heavy silence immediately filled the room. It wasn't until the Doctor had moved his now healed hand off of River's belly and turned away from her that she realized what she said and how much her words hurt him. "Sweetie, I'm so sorry," she apologized profusely. "I didn't mean to say that." How could she have said that? He had been doing so much for her, even putting up with her hormonal bullshit, and she had hardly done much for him in return due to her condition, and she had to ruin it all by saying that.

"It's fine, River," he sniffled back, fighting back his own tears. "I understand. Those were your hormones talking, not the real you. You don't need to apologize. I should be the one apologizing to you."

"Why?" she frowned, puzzled.

He sighed and turned back to face her. "I've been looming over you far too much, constantly worrying that something would happen to you. To our daughter. You are absolutely right; you are capable of taking care of yourself. But at the same time I feel there have been times when you have needed help, but you refuse to tell me, and I want you to know that you shouldn't be afraid to ask me for help. That's why I'm here, after all; that's what I do. I'm the Doctor; I help people, especially those I love. Especially you, River Song, the love of all of my lives. Right now, you are my main priority, and I'd be damned if anything were to happen to you or my daughter—our daughter. No matter where in Time and Space you are, I will find you, whatever it takes, and I will never stop looking for you until you are back safe in my arms. Both of you. I promise." He couldn't help but say that last bit, feeling more and more hopeless as the days past without his real wife and child by his side. He felt that he was running out of time, and he was scared to know how much time he had left until the unthinkable happened to them, wherever they were.

No surprise, this speech confused River greatly. "Doctor, what're you talking about?" she frowned. "I'm right here." She reached a hand up to caress his cheek as a way to prove that she was truly there, but the Doctor knew otherwise.

No, River, he thought to himself sadly, failing to prevent a tear from rolling down his cheek (thankfully it was rolling down the other cheek that River wasn't touching), you're not. He then said out loud as he held River's hand against his cheek, holding her like a vise, "Yes, River. You are here." Of course this was a lie, and he knew it. "What I really mean is that wherever you are in general, whether you're on your own adventure or simply teaching at Luna, I will always think of you and will always love you, no matter what. And if you ever need me, I will always come running back to you. Always back to you. You are seared onto my hearts always, River Song, Melody Pond, and so will our daughter. I will not let anything happen to you both ever again, not while I remain alive." This was what he considered to be an 'Unbreakable Vow' (yes, he did read all of the Harry Potter books), and he'd be damned if he ever broke it anytime soon.

"Don't use that talk with me, mister," River frowned and chuckled in a slight joking manner. "You haven't lost me yet."

Oh, River… the Doctor couldn't help but think to himself, thinking about his current situation as well as what awaited his real wife at the Library. You have no idea how wrong you are…

He then sighed and said out loud, putting those disturbing thoughts to the back of his mind, "You really should try to sleep again, River. You need it. I'm not requesting this time." He said this as he gathered her into his arms, of course being mindful of her prominent baby bump.

"Fine," she sighed in defeat, at this point failing to keep her eyes open. "You better still be here when I wake up," she said with a yawn as she laid her head against his shoulder this time.

"I can't make any guarantees," he chuckled slightly, "but if I'm not the Old Girl will take care of you until I return."

"Fine," she grumbled again. "I love you, you nostalgic idiot."

The Doctor chuckled at her old nickname for him and decided to use one for her in return. "I love you too, River, my bespoke psychopath." At this point, River had no time to reply as she was quickly put into a much deeper and more relaxed sleep from her husband's help via Telepathy.

Once he knew his wife was fully comatose, he slowly pulled himself out from under her, moved her into a much more comfortable sleeping position, and quietly slunk out of the room. He went back to the Control Room and resumed his search of the real River's body, prompting the Old Girl to scan every point in Space-Time for anything (minus any Flesh bodies, of course) matching her DNA. He stared at the screen showing River's image along with the word "searching…" with a loading icon that spun endlessly for several minutes until, for the thirtieth time in the last three days, the words "no results" showed up. He sighed to himself as he set the TARDIS back into the Time Vortex to the next location on the list of leads he picked up.

"Where are you, River?"

A/N: TO BE CONTINUED!

To any of you wondering, yes, the bit at the beginning when River saw Madame Kovarian through the "hatch" was a reference to the first half of Series 6 when Amy was seeing Kovarian in the exact same way. In fact, there will be a lot of "a good man goes to war" references in this prequel, so keep a lookout for those :)

As always, friendly reminder that kudos, comments, and favs are appreciated and will keep me motivated to post more often. I see that many of you are reading my works but not subscribing, favoriting, or commenting on them. I always encourage feedback from my readers and enjoy reading about my readers' favorite moments. I'm sure everyone has at least one favorite moment. Please, please, please share them! I would love to talk about them.

Also, friendly reminder that I tend to have a major habit of rewriting things, so be sure to check back every once in a while (maybe even reread the previous chapter or chapters) to keep up to date on any changes I may make or add.