A very violent reentry - OTA - Spoilers for the 10th doctor's era

[professorsong]

"All the time we've been together, you knew I was coming here," she had said. She was right - about the library. But she was wrong, so wrong, about the Enterprise. Call it a joke of Q's. She wasn't in a laughing mood.

Professor River Song had done what she had to do. Perhaps somewhere in her mind she had always wondered if she would really do what needed to be done when it came down to it. throw herself in the way of a projectile to save him, yes. But when there was thought? When there was time for thought? She offered to give herself to save him, but hadn't she known, hadn't she always known that he wouldn't let her? That he would use the danger to her to do what he wouldn't when he had been the one at risk? She knew the Doctor. She loved the Doctor. Every form she had ever met, and the ones she only knew of as stories. She knew that to save everyone, he would give his life. Some days she didn't half wonder if he wanted to die. She didn't think she could ever love him enough to let him.

But when it was someone else taking the risk, then... ah then he would see another way clear. Another way out. Then he would come up with an impossible plan and pull it off. He did so hate to lose. So, somewhere back in the depths of her mind she wondered if she would ever have the courage not to say she was going to step between him and danger, and not to do it on instinct and emotion, but to stare death in the face and give herself to it to save him.

And now she knew. This time there was no hope for a crazy last minute plan. She knew that. And she knew he knew it. Because her journal was full. Because there was no time for another plan. For the two of them who treated space and time like a giant play yard... No. For her. For her there was no time left. So she did what she had to. She didn't say she was going to take his place, she didn't give him the chance to argue. She knocked him out, handcuffed him, and took his place. River Song worked at the controls.

But he came to too soon. He started to speak, and that... That was what he was best at. Speaking. And it was when he was speaking that he could do anything, save anyone. But not this time. She wouldn't let him, because the alternative was that he would die. And she would not let him. So she spoke. She took his death from him, and she took his trick. In the end, she learned from the Doctor in the most important ways.

The words were still on her lips. Her last words. They were meant to be her last words. "Hush now, spoilers," she had said, she still tasted the words. She closed the connection as the timer ticked down. There would be no more running. And no chance for him to stop her, to take her place. Tears fell from her eyes as the world went white.

Energy filled her, used her, passed through her. She wouldn't scream. She refused. She wouldn't do that to him. Spoilers. Her last word, the last he would hear. He carried too much pain, he hated goodbyes. But she could give him this.

But when the white faded, she wasn't dead. She felt like she should be. She wasn't in the library. She was in a hallway in a space ship she didn't know. And she was alone. No Doctor. She hadn't done it. Or rather... he had. He had saved her somehow. And he could be dead himself for it. But the pain. Oh... the pain.

She was no longer wired into the chair. She was in her space suit, hands wrapped around her journal and her sonic. She had other things with her as well, but with the pain this was all she could feel. A worn leather journal. A Sonic screwdriver. And pain.

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[not_the_question]

His amazing, brilliant wife, calling him back to task. It was enough to calm the raging fire that wanted to tear this universe apart and keep everyone safe.

He swallows thickly. "Nor you not knowing who I was..."

He tries to quip back. He takes a deep breath and pulls away when she starts to ask her questions.

"I don't know if he brought me here intentionally or not, but if Q is smart, he knows to take me out of the picture. He brought all of us here for his entertainment. His mistake was interrupting our time together."

But then she asks about the Library and he goes completely still, but not in shock. He's thinking... She didn't realise he had vanished and all he remembers seeing is a flash of light.

"Of course! The Q can manipulate time and space. You wouldn't realise I had gone, because they can put me back instantaneously! When you... save me in the Library, all I remember is a flash of light. That would be enough time to bring you here and send you back."

He doesn't really know. It's just a theory. Just a hope. And for everyone's sake he hopes he's right. Because he doesn't want to think about the alternative.

[professorsong]

"Which means that my end is still the same," she said with a small nod, that made sense. "This is only a blip until then." Which meant that fixing this was sending herself back to die. She had been ready to die, to save his life. Here with him now, though? Now she didn't want it to end, not yet. But she knew she had to. If this Q was trying to play games with the Doctor, he had to be stopped. Even if she would have been happy to detour and dally for a lifetime more.

Then a new thought occurs to her, which is good, focusing on it helps keep the rest from her eyes, from her face, hopefully before he could read it and follow the thought. "Unless, of course, this is him taking you, as many of you out of the picture as he can," she said. "If you were trying to get out of here, return to what you would have been doing - which may well have been thwarting him elsewhere," she said, watching his face as the idea grew in her. If she was right then Q was clever, but not as clever as the Doctor, because he wouldn't let this stop him. "If he was trying to keep you here, then I think I must have seemed the rather attractive hostage."

[not_the_question]

River mentions how she meets her end. He pulls a hand down his face until a finger is resting over his nose and the rest of his hand covers his lips. He doesn't lower it as he speaks softly.

"It has to, River. Without it... our timelines disintegrate."

Which would be problematic for the universe on so many levels. But then she mentions her idea.

"Q had better not find you attractive."

There's a hint of jealous possessiveness to his voice. Now that he's avvepted that River is his, well, it's a bit like the TARDIS, nothing will come between them. And yes he knows what she meant, taking it this way was easier.

"He knows of the Time Lords - the role we play in our universe - he wouldn't be foolish enough to do that."

[professorsong]

"He was foolish enough to bring you here, and three of you are here now, no less. And three of the Tardis?" she arched a brow at him. "Earth or Gallifrey, my love. Someone wants a clear path to one or the other. Which means we need to get in his way as only you can." Her death had to happen, and they couldn't take their time about it. "We need to get out of this maze, and get you back where you need to be. Where the universe needs you to be."

[not_the_question]

His hand lowers until it is cupping his chin. He is quiet in thought for a moment.

"There were four. And... I was here before. Disappeared for about ten days, if my diary can be believed. But it was far longer for me."

He drops his hand away from his face. How much had he told her? How much did she know? He couldn't remember that bit.

"The question is: which Earth? Which Gallifrey? Is he after all of them? And how do I fight that?"

His arms come to rest on the side of her bed and he lowers his head to them, an air of defeat.

"I'm just one man, River, I can barely keep the Earth and Gallifrey of our universe prime safe. How do I protect all of them?"

[professorsong]

She pushed a hand gently through his hair, unused to this side of him, but willing to be with him through it all the same. "The same way you always do, my love," she said simply. "Brilliantly. Besides, you're not just one man. At the moment you're three, and you've always been so much more than one. You have all your memories, all your past lives. That's all you. And you have the Tardis. And," she leaned closer, "you have me."

She sat up a bit more, hand still in his hair. "Now tell me my love, what force in any universe has a chance against that?"

[not_the_question]

He slowly raises his head to look up at her, his expression a mix of defeat warring with the hope she's offering him. He nods and moves enough so he can lean his head against hers again. So close to kissing her, but not here. This place is far too public. And there's the question of how much Q can see.

Then he realises she's still in that dreaded suit. "We should get you out of that suit."

The meanings are multifold. And he might even mean it as the start of... something.

[professorsong]

She smirked and threw his own words back to him. "Mmm, you are feeling better," she said with a small grin. "But we... we have a universe to save, or several. And we'll do it. I've no doubt of that."

[not_the_question]

He relishes in this moment, for as long as he can. He hums his assent when she mentions he's feeling better.

"Always, when you're around."

And that was the best reply to both of her statements, actually. He then pulls away again.

"Come on, I'll help you sit up. I assume you're not entirely naked under there."

It can't be comfortable to wear and it will be easier for her to move around if she has it off.

Dang it, internet blip ate my post

[professorsong]

"Not entirely, no," she teased lightly, accepting his help. "But I do think we'd all prefer I shower and change into something clean after having worn it for so long. A pity, you never did like me in a space suit," she said with a small smirk, trying to ease the mood slightly. The way things stood, they could go one of two ways if they didn't stand down now. He would find this to public for one of the ways, and the other... well... she would like to have a proper blaster when they save the worlds.

Lazarus plug-in has saved my life so many times!

[not_the_question]

He offers a small smirk of his own. "The minute something good comes from you being in a spacesuit, I'll happily change my mind about that."

Until then - the spacesuit has to go. He offers her his arm, but given her arrival condition, he'll take hers if she doesn't take his, because, he doesn't rightly know how 'all right' she is. She always was better at hiding that than he liked.

Last I heard, it wasn't available for Chrome. And FF crashes my computer.

[professorsong]

She took the arm, it was an offer she never could resist, not from him. She moved carefully to get off the bed, securing everything she came with away.

The journal was still full. She didn't know if she'd need another, here. As it was, it would stand as a reminder, that she has had her time, and that when this is done, that time will be over. For the sake of his future, it had to be.

Ah, I know nothing of chrome.

[not_the_question]

Well, she would get her PADD and keep a diary that way. She would only risk running out of data storage, not pages...

He made sure she was secure on her feet before lifting his free hand to gently caress her cheek with the back of one of his fingers. He leans in, but obviously decides not to kiss her now. It's far too public here.

"Let's see about that shower and a change of clothes."

Still need to make more icons, lol. Mayhaps tomorrow.

[professorsong]

She nodded. "I would rather like that, my love." she looked around, perhaps for the first time. "How long have you been here? You... and the other yous?"

:)

[not_the_question]

He has to think about it. That time away has really confused his internal clock.

"About six months. And I don't know how long the other mes have been here, you'll have to ask them."

Of course, she may not be given that chance, because this body was the one to promise those twenty-four years, not the other ones. Jealous of himself about having to share his wife with himself. He was wrong, having River here now was going to be torture.

[professorsong]

Six months. Six months and he hadn't escaped this yet. Something was not right about this, very not right. Six months, three of him, and they were still trapped here. Fine, she wasn't here, but where the **** were his companions. Wasn't that what they were for, to kick his sorry tail when it needed it? Well fine, she was here now, and she would make sure he saw the back of this Q. Even knowing it meant her death.

"Then, we have a lot to do," she said simply, leaving it to his imagination what she meant.

[not_the_question]

He offers a playful smile. "You have no idea."

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his PADD to look up her room number.

"Ah. 712."

He scowls as he puts the PADD away.

"Too far away."

Still he knows the hall and starts to lead them out of the medbay and to the lift.

[professorsong]

"712?" she asked, wondering what that was a code for. Was she meant to know already? Well, she didn't, so she'd ask. "Too far from what?"

[not_the_question]

"Your quarters. And. Of course. They're too far away from mine."

But he reaches across and pats her arm. He had missed this. He hadn't known he had missed it, but he had.

[professorsong]

"My...." She shook her head. Well. She wouldn't be here six months. If things started moving, she didn't give this Q six days. Still, she would take a shower. "And there will be clothing in there? They somehow just happen to know my size?" She wasn't exactly thrilled to have learned her name was on some list before she arrived either. This Q had a lot to answer for.

[not_the_question]

"Just go with it. It's easier. Take a shower, get dressed, get to know your roommate..."

He shrugged.

"I'll be around when you're ready for more details. Or maybe you can get more details from others and share them with me. Either way."

[professorsong]

"Both ways, my love. I'll learn what I can. Where should I come to find you?" Let's see how much he changed, how much he was the same. Would there be a single place he could be found? And would he wait there for her? Before their date, she would have said no. Now... she was less sure.

[not_the_question]

"Oh, you can always find me."

He offers a little smirk. He had learned how to play this game with her during their time on Darillium.

"Once you get your Data PADD, you'll be able to work it out all too easily."

Because, really there would be only three places: his room, Cridhe's room, or the Cargo Bay where the TARDISes are held.

[professorsong]

"Oh, I always could," she said. "I just wanted to see how you would answer, my love," she said with a small warm smile. She gave him a quick light kiss on the lips. "And where do I get that padd?"

[not_the_question]

He pecks her lips in return, since they were in the relative seclusion of the lift. He gestures when the doors open.

"Should have hone in your room. That's where I found mine."

He looks up and down the hall, before escorting her down the way to her room.

"They're mostly good people here, River. For the most part, they're drawn in and stuck here, just like us. And the ones who aren't good, well. Easy enough to avoid."