Takes place a few days after the Doctor finds out he's a father and several months before the first chapter's River.

The Doctor set the controls on his TARDIS in a decisive manner, choosing to turn off the brakes so that the screech wouldn't make any unwanted noise. His flighty humor had once again taken a turn for the worse, and he couldn't get the fact out of his head that his current wife hadn't informed him of her impregnated state. He intended on getting some explanations.

He—due to pure luck—landed the TARDIS neatly and stormed out of his brightly lit box into the fairly grey and dark jail cell of his wife. Sexy's glow lent a faint illumination to the room. Trying to be quiet, utterly failing, and knocking over a large, rather cushiony chair, he effectively woke River, who bolted upright in bed with a gun pointed at his face.

The Doctor raised his hands quickly.

"Don't shoot—only me. Nothing and no one that needs to be shot here," he said, a bit annoyed that his stealth had not, in fact, worked. Whether it had existed at all was up for debate.

River hesitated a few moments, glancing into the darker corners of the cell, and then lowered her gun.

"Right, sorry sweetie. You can never be too careful. Some of the worst people end up in jails—myself excluded of course." She ended her sentence with a yawn.

"Right," the Doctor said, lowering his hands and righting the fallen chair.

"Was there something you needed?" she asked, stifling another yawn. "Any planets dying? Time throwing a tantrum? Oh, don't tell me Rory's died again!"

"No, no, everything's fine. I just—well, I wanted to talk to you." The Doctor mussed his hair.

River stood from the bed and crossed the floor to stand in front of her husband. Very close in front of him.

"Oh," she said, placing her hands on his chest. "Have I done something bad?"

"Sort of," the Doctor answered shortly. He never failed to be amazed at how his wife could flirt in any situation. Diners in the middle of nowhere, the center of a total time collapse, and this dingy jail cell were just some of the places she had chosen.

"Well, sweetie," River purred. "The handcuffs are just there under the cushion if I need punishing." She moved her hands down his chest but the Doctor grabbed them and held them in both of his, in front of her, refusing to let himself be distracted. He looked down into her eyes.

"River, I need to have a talk with you. A serious talk."

River's face changed from playful to a bit worried. The space between her eyebrows developed a wrinkle like it always did when she was concerned.

"About what sweetie?"

"River…" the Doctor sighed and dipped his head. What he was about to say would sound petty and selfish, but he really wanted to know why River hadn't told him she was pregnant. He wanted to be a part of their child's life, and hoped that she didn't think she was going to have to—or that it would be better to—raise the baby all on her own. He didn't think he could stand losing a second family

"Doctor…" River extracted one of her hands and pushed his hair off of his forehead. He looked up at her, and she saw the hurt there that she had failed to notice before. "Sweetie. Tell me. Whatever it is, I'm sure we can fix it."

The Doctor took a deep breath and looked at the ground once again.

"River…why didn't you tell me that you were pregnant?" he mumbled.

"Why didn't I—what?" River had amused confusion in her voice.

The Doctor looked at her and saw that she was either a tremendous actor (which she was) or she really had no idea what he was talking about.

"I wanted to know why you didn't tell me you were—you know—eating for two." His face reddened.

The look of genuine bewilderment on River's face left no doubt in the Doctor's mind. Not even his wife was that good an actor—she had absolutely no idea what was going on.

"Doctor, you think that I'm pregnant?"

"No, I know that you're pregnant. I don't understand," he said, knitting his eyebrows together and halfway talking to himself. "This isn't too early in your timeline—I checked."

"Doctor!" River was getting impatient.

"I don't see how—unless—OH!" The Doctor dropped his wife's hand and stepped away. "Terribly sorry—I'll just—um,"

"Doctor," River interrupted. "Explain. Now."

"I really don't know if—"

"You're not going to come here in the middle of the night, wake me up, tell me that you think I'm pregnant, and then fly off. You are going to sit down and tell me what the hell is going on." She crossed her arms. "Are we clear?"

"Well…yes, alright. I suppose you could say the damage has already been done." River grew more annoyed at the cryptic sentence and sighed while the Doctor chose to sit in the large chair, facing her.

"Alright—so—explaining," the Doctor gathered his thoughts. "You are pregnant. Obviously you didn't know that before, but you are. The problem is, I probably shouldn't have come in here and told you that you were—bit too close to crossing timelines…but that's unavoidable at this point. No harm done! Most likely!" The Doctor grinned.

River sighed and sat on her bunk.

"Oh," she cradled her chin in her hands.

"Oh?" the Doctor leaned forward. "That's all you've got to say? You've got a little time-lord—well—mostly time-lord—baby growing in there and you'd like to express the entirety of your emotions in two letters?"

"Yes," River raised an eyebrow, challenging him to challenge her. "Oh."

The Doctor pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. It didn't actually do anything to relieve any stress for him, but he had picked up the habit hanging around with humans for so many years.

"River, when we started trying again, you said that you were alright with having children. You're exact words were 'completely and totally fine' with it."

"That's just it, Doctor. I'm all right with having children. I'm completely and totally fine with it. I might even be delighted about it if we were in better circumstances. The problem is that rest of the universe might not be as 'alright' with our baby as I am." She sighed. "I was willing to try again because I could see how upset you were. How much you wanted kids—how much you love them. But now that I know we've made one, it feels like the stupidest thing we've ever done." She looked her husband in the face. "How can I have children knowing that it is a not even a likelihood but a certainty that someone will try to kill them or harm them or take them from me or—or—"

The Doctor got up sat beside her and pulled her to him wrapping his arms tightly and completely around her. His eyes had taken on that centuries-old pain, the pain that was never far away, that those he loved were constantly in danger of being lost. He kissed the top of her head fervently—once, twice, again and again—and could not find anything to say.

She turned into his chest and cried—the brave, gun-slinging River Song gone and the vulnerable Melody Pond sitting here on the bed. They sat like that for many minutes

"River," the Doctor's voice cracked when he eventually spoke and he cleared his throat. "River, I can't tell you that our child will be safe or unharmed or—or even that he or she will live for as long as they are meant to. But I can tell you one thing" the Doctor's voice turned hard and one would have been reminded why on some planets his name meant 'fierce warrior'. "I can tell you two things, in fact. That they will be prepared. And that anyone who wants to harm them, will have to kill me first."

River looked up at her Doctor—the warrior—and while those words were not enough—were not nearly enough, and never would be—they gave her the strength to take is hand and follow him into the TARDIS.

The large, blue, box's doors shut behind them, and could soon be seen slowly winking away, leaving a dark, dingy jail cell, a chair, and a bed.

A/N: Okay, a bit more somber than usual, but hopefully still good. Sorry for being horrendous at updating, I really think something in my genes prevents me from being productive on a regular basis.

Any constructive criticism? Corrections? Compliments? Questions? Rants? Likes? Dislikes? Bowties? Leave them all in that lovely box down below (it's not blue but it'll have to do).