A planet, a pregnancy and a prompt
Title: A planet, a pregnancy and a prompt
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters & Pairings: Amy/River
Rating: PG-13(I still have no idea how ratings work)
Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is just for fun
Summary: It's in the title...
A/N: Found this on my hardrive. Originally a response to a ficathon prompt, don't really like the middle bit, but have nothing to lose by posting it up any way. Also, sorry for the cliched massage! The prompt was:
'There will be days and nights, when I’ll want you more than I want to, More than I should. Oh, how I want you. You and I, we’ve seen it all. Chasing our hearts’ desire.'
This was not darkness. Darkness did not glow with such a tragic beauty. Darkness could hurt you. But not this way.
River was examining the rock on her finger as if it were a newly excavated artifact she had just laid claim to. Reflecting on the past few months, she supposed she had. But you had to want something to lay claim to it. It wasn’t enough just to want to want it. That was like wishing you loved marmite. You either did or you didn’t. River didn’t love marmite. She was a peanut butter girl.
Peanut butter was, however, far from her mind as the torch light guttered feebly in the ancient room. The rest of the excavation team had called it a day, but River had carried on working long into the night, escaping from the world the only way she knew how; into the past. The future had always held such mystery, intrigue, adventure. But with this adventure came a great uncertainty. The past was safe. Reliable. Predictable. Unchanging. That was until the Doctor entered into the equation. Then everything changed. The past could change. Time could be rewritten.
River’s finger tips absent-mindedly traced the setting of the engagement ring she wore, her eyes glazing over at its inexplicability, staring into its depths, yet barely recognizing its existence. There was something mesmerizing in the way it emitted a deep absence of light, something reassuring in the way it glistened dimly, regurgitating stray rays of torch light in its reluctant attempt at generosity.
‘This’, the blonde contemplated, ‘was not what I had in mind’.
It had been three months since River had graced past the church hall in which Rory and Amy held their wedding reception. Her intentions had been clear. She would leave the book with a guest and leave. Amy could do the rest. The problem was that River never had been a great one for avoiding temptation and when she had got to the hall, despite all instincts of self-preservation, she could not resist taking a brief glance in through a window. A decision she regretted almost instantly.
The fiery red-head was sat in contemplation at the head table, a pout playing on her lips, as if perfected from years of practicing for this very moment. It took her a second to register movement at the window, and another to take in the blonde striding past. Her stomach gave a heart wrenching lurch. She shot up to her feet in time to see the woman vanish past the last wall. Something pulled at the back of her brain. Small niggles that were conspiring to form a bigger picture. But Amy still couldn’t see it. A hand tugged at her own and the butterflies flipped and fluttered for a second until Rory pulled her back to her seat. ‘Are you okay?’
***
‘So, where are we going today?’ The Scot began. ‘Do I get a planet? You always promise me a planet…’ She had far too much energy this morning. Luckily, the Doctor was in an equally excitable mood. Not that this would have been a new thing, but he was currently discovering the effects of the pro-plus Amy had slipped into his tea this morning (she was going to have an adventure today, and his fatigue wasn’t going to stop them). Unfortunately, Amy was already beginning to regret this decision as she watched him skip and practically prance along the perimeter of the control panel.
‘I’ve just had this rather nifty idea’, he began, shaking his hands in the air as if possessed by, well, aliens. It was unclear as to whether he was simply excited, or if his hands were shaking uncontrollably and Amy made a mental note to keep him away from caffeine in the future. He was positively bouncing now, and Amy was aware that they were about to begin another one of their conversations that involved not actually talking to each other, but at each other until one of them gave in and followed the others wave length.
‘Because I’m starting to wonder whether you actually know how to fly this thing’. Amy was going to win this battle. She could feel it.
‘I’m going to call it “nift”; the Doctor continued, oblivious to the duel conversation he was a part to, ‘”tea” will come later, I’m not really thirsty yet’.
‘And I reeeeaaaally want to go to a planet’.
‘So all I have to do is flip this switch here…’
‘A one that isn’t Earth…’
‘And then, Amy, can you hold that lever down? And then I push this button here….’
‘It’s not that there’s anything wrong with Earth…’
‘And then if we fly her into the…’
‘Can you hear a phone?’
‘And then we…phone? No. I mean, yes. I have a phone. Where’s the phone? Erm…hello?’
A voice like liquid velvet purred down the line. The Doctor nodded enthusiastically, bumping his head on the console panel, apparently unaware that his reciprocate was unable to see him.
‘Rightio!’ He exclaimed ‘I’ll be there yesterday, with bells on.’
The phone went down, and a few switches later the Tardis was flying through time and space. It’s breaks squealing with pride.
A mere few seconds later the door swung ajar and the doctor stepped out onto a planet of lush vegetation and momentous stone slabs.
‘Hello, Sweetie,’ came the iconic call, ‘and what time do you call this?’ River was stood confidently with her arms folded across her chest, a rock of strength against the strong winds prevailing through the clearing. Her mass of blonde curls were swept into a clip at the nape of her neck, exposing the dirt that had been in avertedly wiped there as she rubbed her stiff shoulders, a brush in one hand and a processor in the other.
The Doctor looked down at his watch, his face displaying his own brand of pride and smugness as he replied ‘yesterday at approximately 2.30pm.’ Striding over, he placed a gentle kiss on his fiancés cheek, but in returning the favour, River added, ‘not even close. It’s 5.30, on Tuesday.’
‘Ooh, I like Tuesdays. And that’s only a few hours out.’
‘That is four days out’.
‘Ah…timey wimey…’ River caught his eye in silent laughter. ‘stuff.’ Shaking her head she took the Doctors hand and led him to the opening of the most recent excavation.
‘I knew it.’ The Scottish dialect was unmistakable. ‘This is a planet. I can feel it.’ Amy took a step out of the Tardis, too absorbed in her surroundings to notice River, whose identity had been blocked from view by the Doctor.
The blonde turned on her heals a little too fast. ‘Amy!’ A quick intake of breath almost knocked her off balance. She had presumed that Amy would have been on her honeymoon. Well, she would have been, if the Doctors’ phone was not currently out of line with the conventional time stream. It had taken a bit of a knock while being pulled back into existence in such a dramatic fashion following the Pandorica. In what could only be presumed to be offended defiance, the Tardis had refused to allow the Doctor to realign her wave patterns. Indeed, the Tardis seemed to have somewhat of an attitude these days, and it was going to take a rather significant amount of coaxing and an industrial sized tub of pistachio ice-cream to sort her out.
Amy ran out of the blue box and into River’s arms. ‘Congratulations! I can’t believe he finally did it! I mean, propose!’ The blonde hadn’t heard a single word but Amy continued never the less, slipping out of the older woman’s embrace but staying hovering close enough to catch the waves of perfume that the wind brought to her. ‘And you! Misses!’ her voice rose in competition against the increasingly more powerful soon-to-be gale, ‘How dare you?!’
River stepped back, still in shock. Amy was on a roll, ‘Why didn’t you come in? I saw you at my wedding, you didn’t come and say hello?!’
‘Too much at stake,’ River was gaining composure, ‘I’ve seen his dancing!’ Self-control. Check.
***
River was leading the way into the heart of the catacombs, past the beautiful sculptures and enigmatic carvings, leaving the howl of the elements to anyone foolish enough to stay on the planets surface. The stone walls that disappeared into the darkness were smoother and damp down here, any carvings that had once lined these walls had long since eroded. Amy brushed the silky lining of the tunnel with her finger tips, turning back towards the Doctor to make a face that said it all: ew.
Heading onwards, further and deeper into the ever-narrowing tunnels, Amy had no where to look but on the athletic woman she was following. Her eyes fell on River’s brown waist belt and traced down the length of her tan skinny trousers to those oh so familiar boots, a smile creeping over her face. As if River had sensed her thoughts she turned her head back and gave a wicked little smile that wrinkled her nose. ‘Nearly there,’ she voiced, taking the younger woman’s hand to pull her through into the wide chasm, but instantly letting it drop, feeling what she hoped was just static electricity shooting between them.
The Doctor caught her expression and raised an eyebrow in anticipation. ‘Static.’ River shrugged.
‘In a tunnel?’ The Doctor looked dubious.
‘You haven’t seen what’s down here,’ River winked.
And there they were, standing in a perfectly preserved ancient tomb whose ceiling stretched up for what seemed to be miles, summiting at a tiny opening in the ceiling through which warm sunlight cascaded down, defying the weather outside, pouring onto and from each ledge like a waterfall. Right at the centre of the great cavern, and feeding from the light was a blue box that was buzzing and sending out sparks and shimmering colour into what should have been darkness.
‘The Tardis?’ Amy was the one to break the silence. River expected no less. ‘But it can’t be, we arrived in the Tardis. It’s outside.’
The Doctor stood in awe, or fear, it was difficult to tell. River wasn’t paying attention anyway, even as he placed his hand into her own. She was watching the redhead who was moving around the cavern to get a better look at the box.
‘It’s beautiful,’ Amy whispered, apparently not holding the same reserve or caution as either the Doctor or his fiancé. Finally River drew her attention away from Amy, ‘Is it what I think it is?’
The Doctor swallowed. ‘The soul’. His words were barely audible. ‘The soul of the Tardis.’ The box glowed, beckoning its audience towards it. Amy was spinning in its light, dancing under the light fall flowing over her, surging through her.
‘But…that’s just a myth.’ The Doctor breathed rather than spoke. River had never seen him so quiet.
‘Oh, Sweetie. When has that ever stopped the universe?’ His arms closed around her.
‘But what does it mean, Doctor?’ Amy couldn’t take her eyes off the box, unaware that River’s were following her intently.
‘I’m not the last.’ He placed a kiss on River’s neck, not taking his eyes from her discovery, blissfully unaware that her own eyes were not on the box, but following his companion intently.
***
That night, River had opted out of sharing the Tardis for home, in favour of the archaeology huts. The Doctor hadn’t questioned her. River was a free spirit, he had known that from the first time he had met her. She had her reasons for each and every little thing she did, but he’d be damned if he understood any of them.
Amy had been standing in the doorway for a good few minutes before she felt she could interrupt the older woman’s study.
‘Well this wasn’t quite what I pictured when you said “hut”’.
‘Darling, this is the 51st century, construction has come on a long way.’
The ‘hut’ was what would in fact have passed as a 21st century maisonette. ‘You have a sofa.’
River gave a soft chuckle as she relaxed back into her chair. She was still in her excavation clothes, but she had added an ivory shawl and for the first time and Amy noticed the pearls that dropped from her earlobes.
‘Indeed. We even have electricity in this day of age.’
‘And you had me all worried about you. I brought you this.’ Amy held out a small picnic basket. She had obviously presumed that River would be spending the night in squalor.
‘And the Doctor is..?’
‘Reconfigurating something or other. He said something about mood swings and morning sickness…you’re not…’
River gave another laugh. ‘Oh, Amy. You don’t honestly think I’m the maternal type, do you?’
‘Well…yes. Actually.’ She noted a drop in River’s expression. Barely detectable, but Amy had practically been on fire since the cavern. Nothing was going to escape her.
‘Sorry,’ she added, ‘so you’re not…’
‘No.’
‘No use for this then,’ the red head said, pulling a bottle of alcohol-free alcohol out of the basket. ‘And there was me planning a girly night in. That Doctor has something to answer for.’ Amy was turning for the door when River, who had gotten out of her seat without a sound turned back to face her visitor with a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses.
‘Why waste the night? We’ve got something to celebrate.’ Amy looked blank. ‘Someone is pregnant’.
‘Oh God. It’s not me again, is it? I’m not doing all that again.’
River laughed again. There was something adorable about this young woman torn between adolescence and womanhood, not fitting into either equation. A pattern that would repeat itself throughout her life. When you travelled with the Doctor you would never really fit anywhere. River knew that well. It was as if there wasn’t a place for her anymore. There wasn’t a time.
‘No, not you. The Tardis.’ Amy’s jaw fell open.
‘The Tardis…she’s…’
‘Expecting.’
***
River knew she should get out of here. The two women had been sat on the sofa for hours talking and laughing into the early morning. She should go to bed. Alone. She should get out. But she couldn’t move. She was lost in the fire of the Scot, in her voice, in her innocence, in her laughter. She couldn’t believe how much this hurt. And yet she couldn’t back away.
‘So the Tardis…’ It had taken Amy a good two hours to get the conversation back on track, ‘she’s pregnant’.
‘In a manner of speaking.’
‘And the Doctor isn’t the last?’
‘He can’t be. The Tardis couldn’t reproduce if there wasn’t someone to fly her offspring.’
‘But who…’ Amy’s sentence was cut short by the look of pain in River’s eyes. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Oh, sorry my love,’ it took the older woman a moment to catch on. ‘Just stiff from work, my neck has been playing up for weeks.’
‘You need a massage.’ Without time to hesitate, Amy had turned River around and was kneeling behind her, removing the shawl that covered the straps of her vest top. River shivered as she felt the younger woman’s cool hands brush her curls over her shoulder and begin their work at the top of her neck. She closed her eyes and leaned into the touch, biting her lip, not daring to make a sound.
The hands traveled lower and thumbs gently caressed the vertebrae one by one.
‘Well we’re going to have to take this off, if I’m going to do this properly.’ It was more of a statement than a question, but River caught Amy’s hand just in time as she had started lifting the vest.
‘Sweetie,’ she held her hand softly, not daring it to go any further, ‘it’s getting late, you should…’
Amy’s lips muffled the end of the sentence. To her complete surprise, River found herself still pushing the young woman away.
‘You’re married.’
‘And you’re engaged.’ Amy had moved in on the older woman, pushing her back against the sofa.
‘Amy, we shouldn’t be…’ Despite her protestations, River’s hands were pulling Amy’s body closer against her as Amy’s own were lost in a tangle of blonde hair. ‘I’m meant,’ she began in between increasingly more possessive kisses, ‘to be,’ and another, ‘marrying, the Doctor.’
Amy pulled back, her long red hair falling onto Rivers own shoulders. ‘Do you want to?’ She whispered, River was silent. ‘Tell me you don’t feel this. River, tell me you don’t want this.’
‘I don’t…’ Amy’s hands were trailing down River’s sides, she was now kneeling over her. River instinctively arched her back, pressing into the body above her, ‘I want you,’ Amy lowered her self down to bring their lips together, ‘oh, how I want you.’
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters & Pairings: Amy/River
Rating: PG-13(I still have no idea how ratings work)
Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is just for fun
Summary: It's in the title...
A/N: Found this on my hardrive. Originally a response to a ficathon prompt, don't really like the middle bit, but have nothing to lose by posting it up any way. Also, sorry for the cliched massage! The prompt was:
'There will be days and nights, when I’ll want you more than I want to, More than I should. Oh, how I want you. You and I, we’ve seen it all. Chasing our hearts’ desire.'
This was not darkness. Darkness did not glow with such a tragic beauty. Darkness could hurt you. But not this way.
River was examining the rock on her finger as if it were a newly excavated artifact she had just laid claim to. Reflecting on the past few months, she supposed she had. But you had to want something to lay claim to it. It wasn’t enough just to want to want it. That was like wishing you loved marmite. You either did or you didn’t. River didn’t love marmite. She was a peanut butter girl.
Peanut butter was, however, far from her mind as the torch light guttered feebly in the ancient room. The rest of the excavation team had called it a day, but River had carried on working long into the night, escaping from the world the only way she knew how; into the past. The future had always held such mystery, intrigue, adventure. But with this adventure came a great uncertainty. The past was safe. Reliable. Predictable. Unchanging. That was until the Doctor entered into the equation. Then everything changed. The past could change. Time could be rewritten.
River’s finger tips absent-mindedly traced the setting of the engagement ring she wore, her eyes glazing over at its inexplicability, staring into its depths, yet barely recognizing its existence. There was something mesmerizing in the way it emitted a deep absence of light, something reassuring in the way it glistened dimly, regurgitating stray rays of torch light in its reluctant attempt at generosity.
‘This’, the blonde contemplated, ‘was not what I had in mind’.
It had been three months since River had graced past the church hall in which Rory and Amy held their wedding reception. Her intentions had been clear. She would leave the book with a guest and leave. Amy could do the rest. The problem was that River never had been a great one for avoiding temptation and when she had got to the hall, despite all instincts of self-preservation, she could not resist taking a brief glance in through a window. A decision she regretted almost instantly.
The fiery red-head was sat in contemplation at the head table, a pout playing on her lips, as if perfected from years of practicing for this very moment. It took her a second to register movement at the window, and another to take in the blonde striding past. Her stomach gave a heart wrenching lurch. She shot up to her feet in time to see the woman vanish past the last wall. Something pulled at the back of her brain. Small niggles that were conspiring to form a bigger picture. But Amy still couldn’t see it. A hand tugged at her own and the butterflies flipped and fluttered for a second until Rory pulled her back to her seat. ‘Are you okay?’
***
‘So, where are we going today?’ The Scot began. ‘Do I get a planet? You always promise me a planet…’ She had far too much energy this morning. Luckily, the Doctor was in an equally excitable mood. Not that this would have been a new thing, but he was currently discovering the effects of the pro-plus Amy had slipped into his tea this morning (she was going to have an adventure today, and his fatigue wasn’t going to stop them). Unfortunately, Amy was already beginning to regret this decision as she watched him skip and practically prance along the perimeter of the control panel.
‘I’ve just had this rather nifty idea’, he began, shaking his hands in the air as if possessed by, well, aliens. It was unclear as to whether he was simply excited, or if his hands were shaking uncontrollably and Amy made a mental note to keep him away from caffeine in the future. He was positively bouncing now, and Amy was aware that they were about to begin another one of their conversations that involved not actually talking to each other, but at each other until one of them gave in and followed the others wave length.
‘Because I’m starting to wonder whether you actually know how to fly this thing’. Amy was going to win this battle. She could feel it.
‘I’m going to call it “nift”; the Doctor continued, oblivious to the duel conversation he was a part to, ‘”tea” will come later, I’m not really thirsty yet’.
‘And I reeeeaaaally want to go to a planet’.
‘So all I have to do is flip this switch here…’
‘A one that isn’t Earth…’
‘And then, Amy, can you hold that lever down? And then I push this button here….’
‘It’s not that there’s anything wrong with Earth…’
‘And then if we fly her into the…’
‘Can you hear a phone?’
‘And then we…phone? No. I mean, yes. I have a phone. Where’s the phone? Erm…hello?’
A voice like liquid velvet purred down the line. The Doctor nodded enthusiastically, bumping his head on the console panel, apparently unaware that his reciprocate was unable to see him.
‘Rightio!’ He exclaimed ‘I’ll be there yesterday, with bells on.’
The phone went down, and a few switches later the Tardis was flying through time and space. It’s breaks squealing with pride.
A mere few seconds later the door swung ajar and the doctor stepped out onto a planet of lush vegetation and momentous stone slabs.
‘Hello, Sweetie,’ came the iconic call, ‘and what time do you call this?’ River was stood confidently with her arms folded across her chest, a rock of strength against the strong winds prevailing through the clearing. Her mass of blonde curls were swept into a clip at the nape of her neck, exposing the dirt that had been in avertedly wiped there as she rubbed her stiff shoulders, a brush in one hand and a processor in the other.
The Doctor looked down at his watch, his face displaying his own brand of pride and smugness as he replied ‘yesterday at approximately 2.30pm.’ Striding over, he placed a gentle kiss on his fiancés cheek, but in returning the favour, River added, ‘not even close. It’s 5.30, on Tuesday.’
‘Ooh, I like Tuesdays. And that’s only a few hours out.’
‘That is four days out’.
‘Ah…timey wimey…’ River caught his eye in silent laughter. ‘stuff.’ Shaking her head she took the Doctors hand and led him to the opening of the most recent excavation.
‘I knew it.’ The Scottish dialect was unmistakable. ‘This is a planet. I can feel it.’ Amy took a step out of the Tardis, too absorbed in her surroundings to notice River, whose identity had been blocked from view by the Doctor.
The blonde turned on her heals a little too fast. ‘Amy!’ A quick intake of breath almost knocked her off balance. She had presumed that Amy would have been on her honeymoon. Well, she would have been, if the Doctors’ phone was not currently out of line with the conventional time stream. It had taken a bit of a knock while being pulled back into existence in such a dramatic fashion following the Pandorica. In what could only be presumed to be offended defiance, the Tardis had refused to allow the Doctor to realign her wave patterns. Indeed, the Tardis seemed to have somewhat of an attitude these days, and it was going to take a rather significant amount of coaxing and an industrial sized tub of pistachio ice-cream to sort her out.
Amy ran out of the blue box and into River’s arms. ‘Congratulations! I can’t believe he finally did it! I mean, propose!’ The blonde hadn’t heard a single word but Amy continued never the less, slipping out of the older woman’s embrace but staying hovering close enough to catch the waves of perfume that the wind brought to her. ‘And you! Misses!’ her voice rose in competition against the increasingly more powerful soon-to-be gale, ‘How dare you?!’
River stepped back, still in shock. Amy was on a roll, ‘Why didn’t you come in? I saw you at my wedding, you didn’t come and say hello?!’
‘Too much at stake,’ River was gaining composure, ‘I’ve seen his dancing!’ Self-control. Check.
***
River was leading the way into the heart of the catacombs, past the beautiful sculptures and enigmatic carvings, leaving the howl of the elements to anyone foolish enough to stay on the planets surface. The stone walls that disappeared into the darkness were smoother and damp down here, any carvings that had once lined these walls had long since eroded. Amy brushed the silky lining of the tunnel with her finger tips, turning back towards the Doctor to make a face that said it all: ew.
Heading onwards, further and deeper into the ever-narrowing tunnels, Amy had no where to look but on the athletic woman she was following. Her eyes fell on River’s brown waist belt and traced down the length of her tan skinny trousers to those oh so familiar boots, a smile creeping over her face. As if River had sensed her thoughts she turned her head back and gave a wicked little smile that wrinkled her nose. ‘Nearly there,’ she voiced, taking the younger woman’s hand to pull her through into the wide chasm, but instantly letting it drop, feeling what she hoped was just static electricity shooting between them.
The Doctor caught her expression and raised an eyebrow in anticipation. ‘Static.’ River shrugged.
‘In a tunnel?’ The Doctor looked dubious.
‘You haven’t seen what’s down here,’ River winked.
And there they were, standing in a perfectly preserved ancient tomb whose ceiling stretched up for what seemed to be miles, summiting at a tiny opening in the ceiling through which warm sunlight cascaded down, defying the weather outside, pouring onto and from each ledge like a waterfall. Right at the centre of the great cavern, and feeding from the light was a blue box that was buzzing and sending out sparks and shimmering colour into what should have been darkness.
‘The Tardis?’ Amy was the one to break the silence. River expected no less. ‘But it can’t be, we arrived in the Tardis. It’s outside.’
The Doctor stood in awe, or fear, it was difficult to tell. River wasn’t paying attention anyway, even as he placed his hand into her own. She was watching the redhead who was moving around the cavern to get a better look at the box.
‘It’s beautiful,’ Amy whispered, apparently not holding the same reserve or caution as either the Doctor or his fiancé. Finally River drew her attention away from Amy, ‘Is it what I think it is?’
The Doctor swallowed. ‘The soul’. His words were barely audible. ‘The soul of the Tardis.’ The box glowed, beckoning its audience towards it. Amy was spinning in its light, dancing under the light fall flowing over her, surging through her.
‘But…that’s just a myth.’ The Doctor breathed rather than spoke. River had never seen him so quiet.
‘Oh, Sweetie. When has that ever stopped the universe?’ His arms closed around her.
‘But what does it mean, Doctor?’ Amy couldn’t take her eyes off the box, unaware that River’s were following her intently.
‘I’m not the last.’ He placed a kiss on River’s neck, not taking his eyes from her discovery, blissfully unaware that her own eyes were not on the box, but following his companion intently.
***
That night, River had opted out of sharing the Tardis for home, in favour of the archaeology huts. The Doctor hadn’t questioned her. River was a free spirit, he had known that from the first time he had met her. She had her reasons for each and every little thing she did, but he’d be damned if he understood any of them.
Amy had been standing in the doorway for a good few minutes before she felt she could interrupt the older woman’s study.
‘Well this wasn’t quite what I pictured when you said “hut”’.
‘Darling, this is the 51st century, construction has come on a long way.’
The ‘hut’ was what would in fact have passed as a 21st century maisonette. ‘You have a sofa.’
River gave a soft chuckle as she relaxed back into her chair. She was still in her excavation clothes, but she had added an ivory shawl and for the first time and Amy noticed the pearls that dropped from her earlobes.
‘Indeed. We even have electricity in this day of age.’
‘And you had me all worried about you. I brought you this.’ Amy held out a small picnic basket. She had obviously presumed that River would be spending the night in squalor.
‘And the Doctor is..?’
‘Reconfigurating something or other. He said something about mood swings and morning sickness…you’re not…’
River gave another laugh. ‘Oh, Amy. You don’t honestly think I’m the maternal type, do you?’
‘Well…yes. Actually.’ She noted a drop in River’s expression. Barely detectable, but Amy had practically been on fire since the cavern. Nothing was going to escape her.
‘Sorry,’ she added, ‘so you’re not…’
‘No.’
‘No use for this then,’ the red head said, pulling a bottle of alcohol-free alcohol out of the basket. ‘And there was me planning a girly night in. That Doctor has something to answer for.’ Amy was turning for the door when River, who had gotten out of her seat without a sound turned back to face her visitor with a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses.
‘Why waste the night? We’ve got something to celebrate.’ Amy looked blank. ‘Someone is pregnant’.
‘Oh God. It’s not me again, is it? I’m not doing all that again.’
River laughed again. There was something adorable about this young woman torn between adolescence and womanhood, not fitting into either equation. A pattern that would repeat itself throughout her life. When you travelled with the Doctor you would never really fit anywhere. River knew that well. It was as if there wasn’t a place for her anymore. There wasn’t a time.
‘No, not you. The Tardis.’ Amy’s jaw fell open.
‘The Tardis…she’s…’
‘Expecting.’
***
River knew she should get out of here. The two women had been sat on the sofa for hours talking and laughing into the early morning. She should go to bed. Alone. She should get out. But she couldn’t move. She was lost in the fire of the Scot, in her voice, in her innocence, in her laughter. She couldn’t believe how much this hurt. And yet she couldn’t back away.
‘So the Tardis…’ It had taken Amy a good two hours to get the conversation back on track, ‘she’s pregnant’.
‘In a manner of speaking.’
‘And the Doctor isn’t the last?’
‘He can’t be. The Tardis couldn’t reproduce if there wasn’t someone to fly her offspring.’
‘But who…’ Amy’s sentence was cut short by the look of pain in River’s eyes. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Oh, sorry my love,’ it took the older woman a moment to catch on. ‘Just stiff from work, my neck has been playing up for weeks.’
‘You need a massage.’ Without time to hesitate, Amy had turned River around and was kneeling behind her, removing the shawl that covered the straps of her vest top. River shivered as she felt the younger woman’s cool hands brush her curls over her shoulder and begin their work at the top of her neck. She closed her eyes and leaned into the touch, biting her lip, not daring to make a sound.
The hands traveled lower and thumbs gently caressed the vertebrae one by one.
‘Well we’re going to have to take this off, if I’m going to do this properly.’ It was more of a statement than a question, but River caught Amy’s hand just in time as she had started lifting the vest.
‘Sweetie,’ she held her hand softly, not daring it to go any further, ‘it’s getting late, you should…’
Amy’s lips muffled the end of the sentence. To her complete surprise, River found herself still pushing the young woman away.
‘You’re married.’
‘And you’re engaged.’ Amy had moved in on the older woman, pushing her back against the sofa.
‘Amy, we shouldn’t be…’ Despite her protestations, River’s hands were pulling Amy’s body closer against her as Amy’s own were lost in a tangle of blonde hair. ‘I’m meant,’ she began in between increasingly more possessive kisses, ‘to be,’ and another, ‘marrying, the Doctor.’
Amy pulled back, her long red hair falling onto Rivers own shoulders. ‘Do you want to?’ She whispered, River was silent. ‘Tell me you don’t feel this. River, tell me you don’t want this.’
‘I don’t…’ Amy’s hands were trailing down River’s sides, she was now kneeling over her. River instinctively arched her back, pressing into the body above her, ‘I want you,’ Amy lowered her self down to bring their lips together, ‘oh, how I want you.’