Fic: Water Music (5/?)
Title: Water Music
Characters: The Doctor, River Song
Rating: PG, so far
Spoilers: Big ones for Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead. Compliant with Journey’s End, but if you haven’t seen it, you won’t be spoiled.
Betas: runriggers and jlrpuck

Summary: The Doctor meets River Song again...and again...and again.

Chapters One ~ Two ~ Three ~ Four


A/N: I apologize for the lateness of this chapter; I had a devil of a time writing it. But the good news is that Chapter Six is done as well, and will be posted next Wednesday.

“Yes, Alice, we know, you can't swim,” said the Doctor impatiently.

Alice glared at him and opened the backpack so that they could see the thin line stretching across the formerly smooth surface of the egg. The Doctor opened his mouth, about to scold her for cracking the egg, but she interrupted him without blinking. “No, just a bit bigger than that. The egg's started to hatch.”

~~~

For a moment, no one said anything at all. This had the side benefit of making it much easier to hear the distinctive cracking sound that emanated from the egg in Alice’s backpack.

“Oh, that’s really not good,” groaned the Doctor, and he grabbed Alice’s hand and began racing for the water. Alice stumbled behind him, trying to balance the egg and bag in one arm while at the same time staying upright.

“Wait a minute!” yelled River, following close behind. “What kind of egg is it?”

The Doctor didn’t even spare her a glance. “You mean you don’t know?”

“You never actually said!”

The Doctor dropped Alice’s arm and gave River a very hard, very stern look. “You don’t want to know.”

“Trust him,” added Alice, rubbing her arm where he’d grabbed it.

“All right,” continued the Doctor. “Four choices. No, three. No, two. I can take the egg and swim out and get it back safe to its home world before it hatches, or we can all turn into breakfast in about – oh – six hours. Leaves time for cricket, but alas, I think I left my ball and bat in the other suit jacket.”

“You are not leaving me here alone,” said Alice firmly.

“I’ll come back.”

“You’d miss and land ten years from now!”

River sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Can’t you call the TARDIS to pick us up?”

“It doesn’t work that way,” snapped the Doctor.

“You should fix that,” she replied dryly, and he gave her a very piercing look.

“Spoilers?”

“No,” said River sweetly. “Just a suggestion.”

The Doctor snorted, and Alice, despite the gravity of the situation, tried not to laugh at his disgruntled expression. “Alice, hand over the egg.”

“No.”

“Alice.”

Alice tightened her hold on the backpack. “Swim, get the TARDIS, come back in five minutes.”

“Alice, we do not have time for this nonsense!” howled the Doctor.

CRACK.

Three pairs of eyes looked down at the egg, where a larger crack had appeared and was beginning to ooze...something.

“Well,” said River brightly. “That settles that.”

Without further ado, River leaned over and kissed Alice on the forehead. “We won’t be a minute,” she promised the younger woman, and turned to push the Doctor into the water with a splash.

“But—" stammered Alice, clutching the bag tighter in shock.

“Well, perhaps two,” said River with a grin, and dove in after the Doctor.

And with that, Alice was alone. She looked down at the egg, suddenly radiating heat and a peculiar salty odor. She glanced back at the tunnel leading to the deeper cavern the Doctor had forced them to vacate, and bit her lip.

“Well,” she said finally. “This bites.”

*

The Doctor, once he was over the shock of being pushed into the water, decided that for the time being, he would not attempt to shout down River Song. First because he was under water, and shouting while immersed in the ocean was a difficult task.

Second because he wasn’t entirely certain he knew the way back to her house, and thus to the TARDIS, without help.

They swam. The water was perfectly clear – he could see every grain of sand on the ocean floor; every miniscule silvery fish. River was an exceptionally good swimmer – he wondered if there was anything she couldn’t do, squashed the inconsiderate hope that there was, and supposed he’d find out eventually – and together, they pushed themselves and each other through the tunnel into the open.

Miles and miles of ocean depths greeted them, green and blue and rolling. River treaded water for a moment, transfixed. He had almost surged past her, anxious to reach the surface and take a breath, when he realized that she was being pulled further away from him, further into the sea. It wasn’t water she was treading, but trying to catch as she desperately struggled against the undertow.

He caught her. He grasped her arms and pulled himself to her. The bubbles had long since stopped rising from her mouth; her eyes were beginning to roll into the back of her head. He didn’t have to think twice, but pushed his mouth onto hers, exhaling to give her a little bit of air. It wasn’t a kiss – he’d given Martha more on the moon than he did River under the ocean, but all the same, he felt everything around them begin to spin, as if the water turned itself into a hurricane. He felt River’s fingers close on his shoulder; the sensation of her entire body sighing into his; her tongue beginning to search his out—

He broke the kiss – not a kiss. How he managed to get them both to the surface, he didn’t know. When their heads broke the water, she was gasping for breath, and he was too, though not as hard. The sky was overcast, and it looked like it was about to storm. River turned to him in the water, about to say something, but he turned away and swam for shore.

They reached the shore together, and it was only while she knelt on the sand, her muscles shaking too hard to stand, that he began to yell, his mind still muddled, half his body still thinking he continued to swim.

“Why did you do that!”

“A cracked egg under water?” she snapped back, too tired to really play games. “Whatever’s inside, it would have drowned before we’d gotten out of the tunnels.”

“I didn’t mean that – I meant you—" He stopped abruptly, and River glanced up at him. “You were caught by the undertow. Don’t get caught by the undertow.”

“It’s not like I wanted to die when you’re young and don’t know anything,” retorted River, still shaken. He felt a chill go down his spine, but she didn’t seem to think anything of it. “What’s inside the egg?”

“Pterodactyl.”

River pushed herself up to stand, brushing the sand off her knees and hands. “Best be moving, then, or Alice won’t thank us.”

The forest was darker now, which was just as well, since it matched his mood. River led the way. It irked him, the entire idea that this woman was going to lead him to an inevitable conclusion, like he had no choice in the matter. None. She’d fall in love with him – he suspected she had done already – and he’d give her his screwdriver, his name, and.... He followed her in the forest, but he itched to dive ahead along the path, to find the TARDIS, to return to Alice, to go away.

It was easier, somehow, when River was a little girl, and neither of them had a history with each other. This River – she was older. She was closer to when she’d go to The Library. This River didn’t have much time left, and didn’t even know it.

“I liked you better when you were young,” the Doctor said, and River nearly tripped over a tree root.

“I like you better when you’re old,” she retorted.

“How old am I?”

“Sorry?”

“How old am I when I’m old, to you? How long have you known me?”

“Oh, it’s to be that conversation, is it?” Thunder sounded in the distance; River glanced up at the sky, and picked up the pace.

“We’ve had it before?”

“Spoilers,” sang River.

He frowned. “It’s a number. And an arbitrary one at that. If you’ve known me for thirty years, I still might meet you a dozen times in the span of a week.”

River looked over her shoulder and grinned at him. “You said you’d say that. Timey whimey—"

“Stop turning timey whimey on me. That’s my line.”

“Said you’d say that too.”

He stopped and crossed his arms; it didn’t take her long to realize he wasn’t moving, and she turned to face him. They were both still dripping wet from the ocean, and her grin grew wider.

“You look like a giant pinstriped drowned rat, you know,” she said gaily.

“Oh, you’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“You’re much too easy to wind up when you’re younger.”

He huffed. “Not what you said before!”

She frowned. “What?”

And the Doctor laughed, a great loud, “Ha!”, and strode past her on the path.

“What do you mean ‘before’!” yelled River, racing after him.

“Spoilers!” he shouted over his shoulder.

She let out a scream of frustration, and he half wondered if she’d throw a clod of mud at his head. Nothing whizzed by his ear, however, which only meant that she hadn’t found a decent clod.

“You didn’t say anything in the cavern,” he called back to her.

“Sorry?”

“You’ve known me how many years – stands to reason you’ve been in the TARDIS. But you didn’t recognize the lettering.”

He glanced at her, just half a step behind him now. River couldn’t meet his eyes.

“Spoilers,” he sighed, and she glanced at him then.

“I don’t know everything about you, Doctor. I know that might surprise you. You act as though I know every last thing there is, but truth is, you’re as much a mystery to me as I am to you. I don’t get to see you in a linear fashion – I have to guess where you are, when you are. I have to be careful not to say too much, and I end up saying too little. You’re the same, but you’ve got 900 years to guard. I’ve only got 42.”

He shoved his hands in his coat pockets. “That’s how old you are?”

“Yes.”

“Thirty years,” he muttered.

“Hmm?”

“I met you when you were twelve. The first time, for you. Tripped over you on the planet Nebulon. D’you remember?”

River grinned. “You were running to help Alice. Some kind of exploding amoeba.”

He stopped, and River’s momentum carried her another step past him, but she stopped to face him. “This is you, thirty years later. And I tripped over you two months ago.”

River swallowed. “How many times have you met me?”

He almost answered her – twice that you remember, once that you will not. “Spoilers, I think.” The gentleness in his voice was meant to mollify the response, but instead of disappointment in her eyes, he thought he saw a sparkle. He wondered why. Her shoulders relaxed just a little, and for the first time, he realized how much she’d been holding herself back, tense and afraid.

“When in doubt.” She laughed, just once, and turned away sharply. “My house is just over the next tree line – how much further to the TARDIS?”

“Two blocks over.”

River nodded, and kept walking. The Doctor followed her, unable to say anything else. The silence was unnerving.

“What’s – never mind.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, clenching and unclenching them.

“No, go on.”

“What’s it like for you? Knowing me.”

River’s laugh was a bit hollow. “Ask me a hard one, why don’t you.”

“This doesn’t really happen to me so often,” he said, annoyed, and she laughed again, just as they left the forest. A light rain began to fall, and they ran the rest of the way to the TARDIS, picking up speed as they got closer. He snapped his fingers to open the doors, but River hesitated, just a moment, before he pushed her inside as the rain began to hammer down.

“Bigger on the inside, yes, I know,” he grumbled as he peeled off his coat, expecting her to say it along with him, but she barely even paid attention. He tossed the coat over the nearest strut, and watched as River moved into the control room, mobile and motionless. She didn’t stare in wonder or shock; she looked as though she was returning to a home she’d left years before. Something inside of him twisted as he watched her reach out to touch one of the coral struts.

“It’s – just odd. I’ve never known the TARDIS not to know me. She was friendly, right from the start.”

“She generally likes people,” he replied, heading for the control panels. “She doesn’t play tricks unless you give her reason.”

“I did, once. She was fairly cruel, really.”

Her voice was sad, almost bitter; he glanced up at her, but she shook her head. “Sorry. Spoilers. Long done, and I know why she did it, and I’ve since forgiven her. There wasn’t much she could have done otherwise.”

The Doctor swallowed, wondering. River touched the strut then, her fingers lightly running down the coral. He had the idea that the TARDIS was holding her breath – assuming she breathed, and he’d long since learned never to assume anything about his ship.

“So you’re boarding her for the first time now?”

“Suppose I am,” murmured River. “Hello, TARDIS. Lovely to meet you properly.”

He threw the final lever, and the time rotor began to move. River grinned as the sounds of dematerialization filled the console room.

“Emergency program 37,” he said, quite proudly. “Find the companion. Installed it a few years ago – comes in handy once in a while.”

“Oh, can’t wait,” said River dryly.

The TARDIS landed with a slight jolt, and for a moment, the Doctor forgot he was on a mission to save Alice. “Do you – do you travel with me?”

River’s eyes widened. “Spoilers.”

He shook his head. “Right. Sorry. To Alice.”

“To Alice,” repeated River, and she was right behind him when he opened the doors.

When he stopped dead in his tracks, she helpfully knocked him over, and they tumbled to the ground.

The cave was exactly as they’d left it fifteen minutes earlier; dark, dank, and with water lapping at the sand, conveniently blocking the only entrance.

Only Alice wasn’t there.

*

The first thing Alice did was wrap the egg securely with the towels She set it back into the backpack, and zippered it shut. She didn’t expect any of this to keep the egg from hatching, but it would at least buy her a few extra seconds. Alice had been with the Doctor long enough to know that every second counted.

The second thing Alice did was to return to the deep cavern with the odd markings on the walls. It was a much faster trip, now that she knew what waited for her at the end. The last few meters were crawled, and Alice brushed the dirt from her knees as she stood and walked over to the markings. She set the backpack next to her feet, and shone the torchlight in order to study the incomprehensible words.

Alice couldn’t read Gallifreyan, but she’d learned over the years to recognize it. This was – not quite right, she knew that, but she wasn’t sure what about the words were off, much less why she’d have that sensation when looking at them. It was uneven, too, like half of it had been etched long before the second part. The older words were cut deep into the rock, rather like the desks Alice remembered from school, where generations of children had worked a set of letters into the wood with their pencils.

Alice didn’t feel the least bit uncomfortable looking at the wall. She didn’t think something was going to crawl out of the pool of water behind her, nor was anything slithering from the ceiling above. Actually, she felt fairly safe, if not exactly tranquil There was something just not...quite...right about it.

And she had no doubt that the Doctor knew exactly what it was.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” said Alice to herself, because life with the Doctor was exactly like a rabbit hole. She hadn’t met Donna Noble – more the pity – but she had met River, and she had a job to do.

“Gamma 452,” said Alice, and sat down next to the backpack, braving the egg to pull out the diary and a pen. She flipped through the diary until she found the correct date, close to the end, and wondered if it was such a good idea to start reading when the adventure wasn’t quite over yet.

Well – it wasn’t as if she didn’t know they’d all make it out alive. Alice still had to meet River at the age of 20, and River still had to go to The Library. Alice uncapped the pen, settled in, and began to read.

Five minutes later, she let out a laugh. “Pterodactyl?”

Five minutes after that, the egg began to hatch in earnest.


Jump to Chapter Six