Reply to prompt - River brushing Amy's hair
“Doctor, this is not funny!” shouted Amy, trying to run her fingers through her tangled hair, and failing. “Next time you use the phrase ‘it’ll be fun’ I am going exactly the opposite of wherever you’re talking about!” When the Doctor had suggested they go to the biggest maze in the universe, it had sounded fun. Halfway through the maze, however, when he then added to his description that it was also a sort of endurance trial, and Amy had so far fallen into a ditch full of something and been dragged backwards through a hedge, literally, by the hedge itself, it turned out that it wasn’t such a fun idea.
She suddenly caught sight of her reflection on one of the screens on the console and screamed. “It’s green! You never told me it had turned green!”
“What turned green?” asked the Doctor, oblivious as always.
“Don’t you what turned green me, mister!” shouted Amy, advancing on him quickly. She pointed wildly at her own hair, a good portion of which was, as she quite rightly shouted, was bright green.
“Sweetie, why don’t you calm down and let me sort that out?” came River’s soothing tones. She gently wrapped her arms around Amy’s slender waist, halting any further murderous advances on the Doctor, who wasn’t exactly in the best of states himself, given that a two headed dog had nicely ripped his clothes to shreds, and he was developing a lovely rash up the side of his face which looked to be the result of poison ivy.
“Fun, he said,” said Amy accusingly, lowering her volume slightly, not wanting to damage River’s eardrums. “My hair is green! That is not fun! I happened to like my hair!” She once more tried to run her fingers through it, failing once more, this time getting her bracelet stuck in the mess of knots and tangles. “I’m probably going to have to shave it all off now,” she finished sullenly, only to feel River chuckle against her neck as her hands reached to remove Amy’s bracelet from where it was stuck in her hair.
“Don’t you laugh,” grumbled Amy, turning a mock glare at River. “We go through all that and there you are sitting at the end not a mark on you!”
“You could have followed me,” River said in that voice that made her sound as if there wasn’t a secret in the universe she didn’t know.
“But he said he had a map,” mumbled Amy, nodding in the Doctor’s direction.
Again River chuckled. “Sweetie, that’s like him saying he has a plan. You know the sort, the ones where he plans to do something , then do something else. When he says he has a map, he means he’s going to go somewhere, turn in a direction and go somewhere else.”
“You could have at least warned me,” grumbled Amy, poking at River’s arm where it was still wrapped around her waist.
“I thought you’d have known better by now,” she grinned. “Really sweetie, look at him. He can barely look after himself, never mind keeping you warm, dry and copper topped.”
Amy leant back into River’s warm embrace as she looked at the Doctor, finally calm enough to take in the full force of his truly disheveled appearance.
“Come on,” said River, tugging Amy with her as she retreated further into the TARDIS towards her room. “And we’ll see what we can do about this charming hair-do.”
*
Amy closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation of River washing her hair, her fingers gently massaging her scalp. “Is it still green?” she asked, her voice now having an almost sleepy quality to it.
“I told you, I’ll show you when it’s dry,” smiled River, continuing to rinse out Amy’s hair over the sunken in bath. Satisfied she had rinsed it thoroughly, River eased herself up from where she had been sitting, her dress hitched up around her waist as she had been sitting with her legs in the bath, one either side of Amy.
Her eyes fluttering open, Amy watched as River moved around the bathroom, not even bothering to fix her dress. The sight brought a smile to her face. It was just so typical of River. She was just so comfortable in her own skin, that it really didn’t matter what she wore, she made it look glamorous, even when it was a dress hitched up far too high revealing deep blue lacy underwear. When she returned with a huge fluffy towel, Amy gladly stood up, letting River wrap her in its warmth, and lift her out of the bath, carrying her all the way through to the bed in her strong arms. She pressed a kiss against her shoulder as she sat her down on the bed, going to fetch the hairdryer. There were other, quicker ways of drying hair, but River had found that every so often Amy liked a little reminder of the 21st century, as backwards as it may sometimes seem.
Settling herself cross legged behind Amy on the bed, River took the hair brush in one hand and the cordless dryer (she like to give Amy’s 21st century things at least a bit of a 51st century twist where she could) in the other, gently brushing out the tugs before starting with the hairdryer, every so often alternating between the hot and cold temperature settings so as not to burn Amy’s head. Every so often Amy would reach behind her, striking her fingers across the smooth skin of River’s legs as if to remind herself that it was actually River behind her, capable of such gentle attentions. Amy loved this side of her lover. Yes, she freely admitted that the danger seeking adventuress was unmistakable sexy, but this gentle, caring side warmed her even more because she knew that it was a side only she got to see.
Laying down the hairdryer, River gently ran the brush through Amy’s now tangle free, shining copper hair, before wrapping her arms around Amy’s waist and pulling her back against her. “All done.”
“Do I still look like some hideous monster?”asked Amy, but laughing now instead of shouting.
“Never,” smiled River dropping a gentle kiss against the pale skin of Amy’s shoulder. She nuzzled into Amy’s neck, smiling against her warm skin.
“Pond! River!” came the Doctor’s voice, from through the door, quickly followed by him, stomping in clutching his shirt. “Ah, you’re not green anymore!” The elation in his voice quickly faded however, as he started to scratch at the rash on his side. “Anyway, this, this itch,” he said, still scratching. “What is it?”
“You can name almost every planet and species in the universe, travel through time, and you don’t know what that is?” asked Amy, looking up at him, but making no effort to remove herself from River’s embrace.
“No, Pond, I don’t. I know it is not a great many things, but at the moment I don’t know what it is,” he said, sounding decidedly huffy.
“I’m putting my money on poison ivy,” said River, also making no effort to move.
The Doctor stopped his scratching for a moment, peering more closely at the rash, which looked red and angry at not being left alone. “Poison ivy?”
“I’m with River on that one,” Amy nodded. She had had a few painful encounters with poison ivy thanks to some stupid decisions, which in her defense had seemed worth it at the time. She reached for the hairdryer River had laid down on the bed, holding it out towards the Doctor. “Put it on a low heat over the rashes for five minutes. It stops it feeling so itchy for a bit.”
The Doctor didn’t look convinced but at this point he was being driven so insane by the constant need to itch that he would try anything. Grabbing the hairdryer the Doctor instantly turned it on, and pointed it towards the worst of the rash on his side. After a couple of minutes, he turned it off, looking at Amy in disbelief. “It’s working.”
“Yeah, and it can work elsewhere,” she said, getting up from the bed, careful to keep her towel wrapped firmly around her and marching the Doctor towards the door, a hand on his unaffected shoulder. “Now go, have fun not itching.” Closing the door behind him, she turned back to River, a grin on her face. “Did he really mean it?”
“Mean what?” asked River, confused.
“That it’s not green!” said Amy, as if it was obvious.
“Why don’t you look and see?” smiled River, nodding towards the mirror which hung above her desk.
Amy skipped excitedly across the room coming to a halt in front of the mirror, where she jumped up and down with all the energy of a five year old after too much sugar. “It’s ginger, I’m ginger again!” She paused, looking more closely at her reflection. “More than that, it’s glowing! Literally!” She turned back to face River, her grin never leaving her face. “How did you do it?”
“Amy, you really think I got this far, looking this good without knowing what takes out what stain?” she smiled, reclining back on the bed, looking as effortlessly elegant as she always did.
Crawling up the bed next to her, Amy leant down to kiss her gently. “I think you deserve a thank you.”
“Oh really?”
“Maybe a present, something you can unwrap,” grinned Amy, kissing her once more. “Something you can get your hands on.”
“Hmm, and what would that be?”
In answer, Amy tugged her towel open, grinning at the mischievous twinkle in River’s eyes.
“It’s perfect.”