Fic: Water Music (6/?)
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 ~ Five

The Doctor could not have been more annoyed if he’d missed his destination and ended up in Jack Harkness’s bedroom.

“Rule One, don’t wander off!” grumbled the Doctor as he untangled himself from River Song where they’d fallen on the floor of the cave. He stood up and glared at the stone walls, as if perhaps they’d been the ones to wander off, and not his current companion. “Simple rule, stay put, don’t move, and not a single companion has ever been able to follow it.”

River scrambled to her feet. “She’s not here?”

“Do you see her?” snapped the Doctor. “We didn’t jump time, I checked. Alice!”

The name echoed off the walls. River took a few steps in, looking for footprints, but couldn’t tell anything in the dim light. “Something’s not right....”

“Oh, brilliant you are,” he retorted. “No way in, no way out, fifteen minutes gone, and Alice is missing. Why’d I take up with you again?”

She gave him a withering, put-upon glare. “Smell the air, Doctor – something’s not right.”

He sniffed, and the realization crept up on his face like a rocket. “Oh...oh! That’s brilliant! That’s just...” He sniffed deeper, and tried to lick it. “Bit metallic...burnt sugar...something of a tang to it...rather like...”

“Blood?” suggested River, and he gave her a look.

“I don’t even want to know.”

“All right then, Mr. Brilliant, what were you thinking of?”

He snorted. “Mr. Brilliant? Thirty years, and that’s the best insult you can come up with for me?”

“Give me time,” replied River darkly.

He turned and shouted again. “Alice!”

The sound of Alice’s voice echoing into the cave was the most beautiful thing he’d heard in quite a long time. “Hold your horses, I’m coming!”

This, however, was followed by a peal of laughter, and River gave him an odd look.

“You’re pale. Alice is fine. Why are you pale when Alice is fine?”

“Oh, no,” he breathed.

“Oh no what no? Are we too late? Did the egg hatch?”

“I think it might have done, yes.”

River stared at him. “You said it would take six hours. You said it would be a pterodactyl. You said we’d all end up breakfast.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Well....that wasn’t quite true.”

River’s voice was icy. “Which part?”

“All of them.”

“It’s not a pterodactyl.”

“No.”

“It isn’t going to eat anyone.”

“Definitely not.”

“And it hatches in far less than six hours.”

“Fairly certain, yeah.”

A trickle of Alice’s laughter floated into the cave. She sounded perfectly delighted.

“Doctor, what was that egg?”

He sighed. “An Anderoplian duck.”

River blinked. “A duck.”

“An Anderoplian duck,” he corrected her.

River exploded. “I pushed you in the ocean! I was nearly sucked in by the undertow! We ran to the TARDIS and I got my silk shirt soaked to the skin and you had me thinking that Alice was going to be eaten by a dinosaur and it was all for a duck?!?”

“It’s a lot of more fearsome than it sounds,” said the Doctor helpfully.

“Oh, I can’t wait,” said River murderously.

The Doctor gulped, and turned to the tunnel. His shout was practically a wail. “Alice!”

“Oh, I’m here, I’m here,” said Alice, emerging from the tunnel. She carried the nearly empty backpack in her arms, and did not seem to be the least bit concerned that she was followed by a four-foot tall, bright yellow and brown duck with what had to be the sharpest pink beak ever seen on anything once considered proper decoration for a child’s bathtub. “Hello!”

The Doctor glanced at River, whose mouth had dropped open in surprise. He grinned, and then turned back to Alice.

“Where have you been?” he asked as sternly as he could manage in spite of the laughter.

“The cavern, obviously. Tommy was thirsty, and that pool is freshwater, you know. Tastes like lemons.” She leaned over and patted the duck on the head. “Aren’t you the cutest widdle duck ever ever ever?”

The duck ruffled its feathers and nuzzled into Alice’s neck lovingly. The Doctor groaned.

“Alice, didn’t I tell you not to bond with the duck?”

“What was I supposed to do, let it bond to a rock?” countered Alice, dropping a kiss on the duck’s head.

“You certainly weren’t supposed to touch it,” he scolded her. “You know Anderoplian ducks imprint themselves on first contact. You’re going to have that duck thinking you’re his mother.”

“He is awfully cute,” said River, and the Doctor wheeled on her.

“Not you too!”

“It’s all right, Doc,” said Alice cheerfully. “Tommy doesn’t think I’m his mom. More like the aunt who lets him get away with tossing his green beans down the loo.”

“Alice, you named him. Tommy, of all things!” snapped the Doctor, and stopped talking as it occurred to him. “Wait. You called me Doc. You never call me Doc. The only one who calls me Doc is – oh, for....”

“What?” asked River.

“Temporal shift,” muttered the Doctor darkly. “That’s the smell. Temporal shift.”

“Never actually said who Tommy thinks his mom is, did I?” asked Alice, patting the duck on the head.

“Adoptive mother, thank you,” said the cheerful man coming out of the tunnel. Tommy let out a squawk and waddled over to him, throwing its wings around the man’s leg and instantly snuggling close. The Doctor glared, very well aware that River had begun to laugh.

“Jack,” said the Time Lord

“Doctor,” said Time Agent.

“Someday,” said the Doctor, “I’m going to break that time shifting wristwatch of yours for once and for all.”

“Sure you will,” said Captain Jack Harkness cheerfully. “Why, Miss River Song – you don’t age a day.”

“A compliment coming from you, Captain,” replied River with a grin. She lifted her hand up to him, clearly knowing her part. “You may kiss my hand.”

“Gladly.” Jack extracted himself from the duck, and took her hand in his, dropping a kiss that took at least five seconds longer than was really necessary. The Doctor cleared his throat.

“Oi!”

“Wait your turn,” said Jack mildly.

“You know, I used to have companions who respected me.”

Alice snorted. She had plopped herself on a nearby rock, and was patiently feeding Tommy little bits of bread. “He says that,” she told the duck, who made a soft cooing sound in reply.

“Jack, why are you always where I least want you?”

“I called him,” said Alice. “You gave me a superphone, I happen to use it on occasion.”

“You called Jack?”

Alice shrugged. Jack grinned.

“Well, Doc, you do pick them cute and clever.”

“Which one am I?” asked Alice, curious.

The Doctor clapped his hands together. “What say we all get into the TARDIS and take Tommy and River home? And then I’ll toss Jack into the nearest black hole and the world will be a better place – sounds like fun, doesn’t it?”

He was met with silence.

“Why?” asked Alice.

“He annoys me,” explained the Doctor.

“No, I meant about River. Why can’t she stay?”

“Because I can’t,” said River gently.

“But—"

“Spoilers, sweetie.”

Jack shrugged his shoulders and started for the TARDIS. The duck left Alice and waddled after him. “Come on, Tommy. Time to get you to your proper home now.”

Alice picked up the backpack and glanced over at River, but didn’t say anything. She followed Jack and Tommy into the ship, closing the door behind her.

The moment she was gone, River slumped, her shoulders sagging. She looked utterly exhausted, and almost ready to cry. The Doctor watched her, suddenly conscious again of her age. “You could come with us.”

River smiled. “No, I can’t.”

“How do you know? You’ve got to travel with me at some point.”

“Do I?”

This stopped him – funny, how River was the only one ever really capable of rendering him speechless.

“Maybe I do,” continued River. “But it’s not now.”

“Why?” he demanded. “No – wait. Spoilers. We’re never going to be able to talk to each other, are we? Have a conversation that doesn’t end in spoilers.”

She shook her head slowly. “How boring would that be?”

She paused, looking up at him expectantly. He had the distinct feeling that there was something he was supposed to say just then, only he didn’t have any idea what it could be.

The door to the TARDIS opened with a squeak, and Alice poked her head out. “Come on, pretty boy, shake a leg!”

River grinned at him, her sudden lethargy slipping away. “Pretty boy?”

The Doctor glared at her. “Don’t. Just...don’t.”

“Oh, not now.”

He groaned, and stormed towards the ship. “Jack! If that duck of yours is flapping on the console, I’m heading straight for Peking and handing it over!”

*

Their first stop was Anderope, where Tommy the duck was returned to his proper mother, and Jack consigned to remain for the next few weeks until the initial bond wore off.

“Coming back to give me a lift home?” he asked as the Doctor stomped back to the TARDIS.

“No,” snapped the Doctor.

“I can help fly the TARDIS!”

“I can’t fly the TARDIS and protect Alice’s honor at the same time.” Jack laughed and might have made a snappy retort, except the Doctor slammed the door before the words were even formed.

“Don’t be rude,” scolded Alice while they dematerialized.

“Genetic makeup,” he said shortly.

“I don’t care, he’s your friend and he helped me out. Just because you’re sulking doesn’t give you the right to be rude.”

“Hear, hear!” cheered River from the jump seat.

“I’m not sulking!”

“Oh, no, I’m sorry, you’re always this pleasant when it’s not you who saves the day.”

The Doctor gritted his teeth. “I’m very glad Jack was here. I’m glad you haven’t been bonded to a duck. I’m especially glad that we’ll be dropping River off next so that I can properly kick you off the TARDIS without people fussing at me.”

Alice sighed. “What’s got you sore this time?”

“You knew we were coming to River. Aren’t you supposed to warn me?”

“I didn’t actually. And no.”

He sputtered. “What do you mean, didn’t?”

Alice glanced at River, almost apologetic, and then turned back to the Doctor with a shrug. “Spoilers?”

River howled with laughter, falling onto her side and nearly rolling onto the floor. The Doctor sputtered worse than ever.

Then he stopped being able to make noise at all.

His face turned bright red.

And he burst into laughter. Oh, he laughed – how he laughed, falling over the console, sitting on the grating, tears rolling down his face. Alice and River stared at him, their grins matching, and they began to giggle.

The Doctor turned to River. “You’ll come later.”

She leaned back in the jump seat. “I’ll tell you this – one day you ask, one day I follow. But not today.”

He nodded, and bounded to his feet, suddenly free of the anger and tension. He set to work on the controls, and then laughed again. “I don’t have the coordinates.”

“I do,” said River, and she spun the right dials, pressed the right buttons, and soon enough, they’d landed behind her house. River turned to him with a grin. “That explains how the TARDIS knew I was here. I always wondered, how she knew to find this house, when I’d never told you I was here. It’s obvious now – I’m the one who told her.”

“Spoilers,” he reminded her, and the skin at the edges of her eyes crinkled.

“Spoilers,” she agreed, and he half thought she was saying something else entirely. Alice must have caught it as well, because she jumped up from her place.

“River, can I run into your house for a moment – just to – ah–"

“Go on,” said River, and the younger woman raced out of the ship.

The Doctor tried to pretend he wasn’t sorry that Alice had left them alone for a moment. “Why not today?”

The smile faltered, just a little. “I would like to, very much. But you have a track record for never returning people on time, and I have an expedition that leaves in four days.”

He hoped the sudden spike of fear didn’t show on his face. “Expedition? Where to?”

She laughed, clearly having not noticed his shift. “Going to leave something for me to find?”

“Half the fun of a time traveler and an archaeologist,” he joked, not feeling particularly funny.

“Nowhere far, really, just the other side of the planet. Some ancient burial grounds. They say—" Her eyes sparkled mischievously. “They say there’s a legend of a mysterious traveler who consecrated the ground. You and Alice better start hopping.”

He smiled, the relief flooding through him. “I’ll see what we can do.”

“She’s a good sort, Alice,” said River suddenly. “I – I’m so glad I met her.”

River almost looked like she was going to cry. It gave him an odd sort of feeling. “I heard you talking in the tunnels. She doesn’t tell that story often, you know – about her father, how we met. I’m surprised she told you, since it’s the first time she’d met you.” He looked down at the controls for a moment. “What happens to her?”

River bit her lips together. “I can’t tell you.”

“Spoilers,” he repeated softly.

“I so badly wish I could.”

“Can’t rewrite anything,” he said immediately, remembering. “Not one line, don’t you dare.”

She blinked, and rested her hand over his. He glanced up at her, surprised to see her eyes fill with tears.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “I know I shouldn’t, but—"

She leaned forward and kissed him quickly, on the side of his mouth, perfectly innocent if a little long. His eyes remained open, and he watched her pull away, her eyes slowly opening to look at him, dark and sad.

“Sometimes,” she whispered, “I hate this. One of us always ahead. Always seems to be me.”

“Me too,” he said, his voice low and thick.

She laughed. “One of us will have to catch up eventually. That’ll be nice, won’t it, being able to really talk at last?”

He swallowed. “Yes,” he managed to say, and she squeezed his hand.

“Off I go, then. Be seeing you.”

There were no other words, and before she closed the door behind her, she smiled back at him. He thought he saw her swallow down a sob.

*

It was some time before Alice was able to return to her room with the diary. The Doctor dragged them to the very beginning of River’s planet, where they managed to convince the indigenous people that they were gods (the Doctor by way of his screwdriver and a rather heavy boulder), accidentally burned down a sacred tower (Alice by way of means she forever would refuse to explain), were tied to stakes as a sacrifice (as this seemed to be the way the natives dealt with gods and pyromaniacs both), and finally left a message for River to find. It was carved in the rock at the base of the new temple built to honor the newly discovered alien deity.

“You’ll have a complex if this keeps up,” complained Alice as they carved the words. “Jack says half the species in the galaxy think you’re a god and the rest think you’re the devil.”

“What do you think?”

Alice sat back on the dirt and thought. “Insane comes to mind.”

“Ha!” He rubbed the gravel and grinned. “There it is, one message for Miss River Song. Our very first. Probably not hers, though.”

Alice read it aloud. “Dear River: Tag, You’re It. Love, Alice and the Doctor.” She grinned. “She’s going to yell.”

“She might,” he conceded, and stood up, offering Alice a hand. “Right then, back to the TARDIS. Where next? Peckish? All those ducks...I’m thinking Chinese.”

“Bed,” said Alice firmly. “I haven’t slept in five planets.”

“Two of those were the same planet twice over.”

“Still counts.”

“Always sleeping,” sighed the Doctor, following her back to the ship.

“Humans do,” said Alice blandly. “Is River?”

“Is River what? Asleep?”

“No, human.”

“Of course she’s human, don’t be silly.”

“It’s just...I don’t know. I wondered if—"

“She’s not a Time Lady, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“I wasn’t,” protested Alice, and he snorted. “Okay, I was. Her diary is almost full.”

He was quiet for a moment. “I know. Three, maybe four years?”

“I like her.”

“I think I do, too.” He was almost surprised, but not quite.

“You liked her before.”

“Not the first time.”

They reached the ship, and Alice let out a yawn so wide, the Doctor could see her tonsils. “Don’t wake me up. In fact, I’m telling the TARDIS to remove my door.”

“All right,” he said mildly as they entered the ship. “Toddle off to bed then.”

“Shall do,” said Alice with another yawn, and grabbed the backpack on her way through the console room. Just before she left, however, she turned back to see the Doctor sitting on the jump seat, his feet propped up on the control panel. The time rotor chugged away, and the thin blue light shone on his face, shadows and deep lines appearing where normally he was young.

Alice watched him for a moment, wondering. When she reached her room, she shut the door carefully, and fell onto her bed, flipping through the diary for the proper date.

She hadn’t read all of it in the cavern, not really, and not very closely. Now she took her time, and tapped her pen against her teeth, reading from the other side.

Gamma 452.

Age: 42

Companion: Alice

Oh, writing that. I knew I would write it again, at least once, and how lovely to do it. I met Alice very officially from her side, today of all days. She looks just as I remember her. She knocked on my door; she and the Doctor were looking for an egg. The same egg, it turns out, that Kendra brought to show me a week ago. The Doctor was quite surprised to see me – I thought then, and turns out I was right, that it’s quite early days for him. This may very well be the first time he’s seen me when I’m not a child. I think I gave him a bit of a shock.

Three or four years left, the Doctor had said to Alice. He’d spent the day with a woman who looked exactly as she did when she died in The Library. Alice wondered how he’d managed to go the day without her realizing it.

Alice kept reading, every so often frowning, every so often grinning like mad. And then...

So flat, the way she told me. She didn’t even say the words, that her father died. Just that he resisted, and that was that. Rather impersonal, I thought then. As if she didn’t care one way or the other if her father lived or died. I don’t know what I think now.

Alice shoved the diary away and buried her face into the blanket, wanting to shove the thought out of her head.

Because it was true, in a way. She didn’t miss him. She loved him and wished he was alive and was sorry he’d never met the Doctor, a man he would have been happy to talk to and learn from and all those other things scientists liked to do with each other.

But she didn’t really miss him, not because she didn’t think about him, but because she was so busy, running from one place to the other, one adventure to the next, that she never really seemed to have the time. It was one of the things that she and the Doctor shared, she thought. If they stayed too still, they’d remember the people they’d lost, and both be overtaken by Melancholies, and that would be the end of everything.

No, it was easier to keep running, to pretend that Dad was waiting for her on Egrotat, and maybe they’d stop by to see him next week, after the next adventure. You can’t miss someone who hasn’t gone away.

Alice sighed, and lifted her head. She pulled the diary back, and found the blank space on the last page. She uncapped her pen, and began to write.

It’s always the Doctor’s fault, except when it’s mine, but this time it’s his, because he was so worried about meeting River Song again that he managed to get us tossed in jail, and that’s how we ended up on her planet, and how I met River Song for the first time. My first time, anyway.

Alice had to add three extra sheets of paper to the diary before she was done. She closed the diary and set it beside the bed, letting her fingers brush it absently as she drifted off to sleep.

Next time, she thought, next time – she’d have to tell River everything. The letter from herself said to leave nothing out – explain about the Melancholies, whatever she did, make sure River knew everything.

Alice wondered how she would begin.

When Alice finally fell asleep, she dreamed of her father, and Bunsen burners, and rhinoceroses and ducks playing at the zoo.


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