A/N- Still part of my Tangled Web of Beauty series. By the way, suggestions are welcome if you'd like me to try to incorporate any gratifying fluff into one of my stories.

As always due to the Timey Wimey nature of the Doctor and the Pond's life- the order of the series doesn't necessarily matter. Also, very AU- in which Manhattan shall now be known as "that place the Doctor and Ponds went before they went to the pub and Amy and River schooled the boys at video games." There will be so much fluff, crazy random happenstances, and guest appearances in this story- so be prepared, and enjoy the ride, because I have so far. Let me know what you think!

"Doctor!" River yelled as the familiar TARDIS noise reached her ears. Before it had even faded completely into view she had burst through the doors- the righteous indignation of a mother protecting her young coursing through her veins. Nothing could stay her course as she ran without looking into the console room and… into a previous version of her husband. Well, at least he was the one right before they got married and not the one with the cane- again.

"Professor Song?" he questioned, clearly surprised at her willingness to simply barge in without any sort of invitation. Oh, well. At least he knew who she was. "What're you doing here?"

"Have you met Bella?"

"Your daughter?"

"Yes, my daughter. Come with me." She immediately walked up and grabbed his hand, forcefully pulling him away from his brooding and his beloved ship.

"What's happening? What do you think you are doing?! River! Where are we going?!" Despite his protests, he was intrigued and curious as to where this mysterious woman was taking him.

"Bella's father promised he'd show up for her birthday, and once again- he's late. So you're going to make it up to her."

"Why me?" he asked- really not in the mood for dealing with the domestic problems of women he barely knew.

"Because you're here and he's not." Her voice allowed no room for arguing. "Now, you're going to go in there, invite her on a magnificent adventure, take her out for the time of her life, and ignore any spoilers you get today. Is that completely understood?" Her look could stop armies dead in their tracks.

"Right. And who exactly do I say I am- the stranger who delivered you when you were a baby?"

"Be whoever you have to. Be John Smith for all I care!"

"I really don't think I should have to-"

"Look, it really doesn't seem like that idiot is going to show up, so unless you want to stay with her tonight as she cries herself to sleep, you're going to make sure she has the most memorable birthday ever."

He was about to protest when he spotted a very young child- probably no more than 5 or 6 years old, run up to River.

"Is he here yet, Mommy? He promised," she reminded her mother hopefully.

The fear in the child's eyes tore at the Doctor's hearts, prompting him to crouch down to her level before River could answer and say, "Happy Birthday, Bella. Your mummy tells me could use an adventure today?"

She just looked up at her mother, question in her eyes before River nodded and smiled, making this stranger's proposition legitimate.

"Well, I was supposed to go with my daddy, but we can go before he gets here. He's going to come. He promised." Her accent was unlike her mother's, and her eyes held no recognition for him- so that convinced the Doctor she must not be who he had suspected she was.

"Well, then. We best hurry so we could be back in time." He relaxed now as he held out his hand to the child, who then turned to grasp her mother's in her other one. She really didn't seem to know him- another comfort to the wary Time Lord.

"Where are we going, Mommy?" the child asked the adult she did know, even as she held onto the Doctor's hand with surprising strength.

"Well, I don't know, darling. Where did you want to go?"

"Daddy promised he'd take me to the Phosphorus Carousel of the Great Magellan Gestalt. Mommy, what's phosphorus mean?"

At these words the Doctor's face broke into a small smile- the child's excitement exactly the remedy he needed to soften the ache of what had so recently happened. He was just about to give a very detailed description on the origins of phosphorus and the Carousel and the planet on which it was located, when his hearts stopped as the little girl squealed and unexpectedly ran toward his TARDIS.

"He did come!" she screamed, running through the doors, before looking around in confusion, then horror.

"What happened?! Where's my daddy? Why is the TARDIS broken?" She was so confused as she took in the coral settings, wondering what happened to her father's ship.

"Bella-" began River, before Bella turned to the obvious culprit of her confusion- the Doctor, and she ran up to him, pulling him down to her level, clutching at his shirt.

"What happened to my daddy?!" she sobbed, burying her face in his chest while he, stunned, looked to River, who was reaching for her child just as Bella's head perked up, her tiny hands feeling the two heartbeats beneath her fingers. She stopped crying long enough to put two hands over her own chest, then back on the Doctor's.

"It's you! How did you change your face, Daddy?! You did come for my birthday! I knew you would. What happened to the TARDIS? Did your face change it?! Can we still go to the carousel?" She gasped. "Is my face going to change too because it's my birthday?"

"No, baby, your face isn't going to change. Why don't you go to your room and get your special birthday outfit on? We'll be there in a moment."

The Doctor was very rarely stunned into silence, but this was a very unusual circumstance.

"River," he pointed to the child who made her way casually through his enormous ship, "she- well, I mean, is she- WHO IS SHE?!" the stress of the situation really was getting to him.

"I'd hoped to come up with a better explanation for the two of you, but I forget how impatient both of you can be."

"We- I- River, am I her father?" he needed answers. Now.

"You will be, one day. But I guess she's too clever for our own good." He nodded smugly- she was his daughter. Apparently. "She's gone and figured out everything before we can even explain regeneration to her." Then she smacked him on the arm.

"OW! What was that for?" he bellowed.

"You knew this would happen all this time and you never mentioned it!"

"I didn't do anything. Future me did."

"You're here. By the way, how early is this for you? You knew about Bella. Have you seen me since then?"

"I last helped you steal a timeship off Gaiusa a while back. You had no idea who Bella was."

"Ah- yes. Good ol' ship helped me quite a bit during my early Storm Cage experience."

"The prison?"

"Spoilers."

"It's a bit late for that now, isn't it?"

"Oh, don't be such a grump. Just enjoy the day, forget it until much later on, and pretend like you're familiar with our child. Her name's Bella, obviously. She's as excited as you are about everything. She knows Jack and some of your other old companions. And she's never encountered either of us- well, at least we've made it seem that way- who didn't know her. Apparently she just assumes you had no life before her, bless. So, set aside your surprise and your desire to run as fast as possible right now, and pretend you're happy to be here."

He was surprised she knew him so well, though he shouldn't be- she was River Song. Even when he'd met her younger versions she'd known everything about him. Ish. Now that he knew the child she'd delivered years ago was his, he did feel slightly better that he was there for Bella's birth. And the child had seemed so sure he would be there because a future him had promised her- so maybe he wouldn't destroy the little girl's life after all. He tried to take comfort in that as he fought against the desire River had already named.

"River-" he had to ask, a sliver of doubt and fear squirming through him as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, "she doesn't know this me. What if- what if I'm not who she expects?"

River looked at him- really looked for the first time that night, and saw the pain he couldn't mask in his eyes.

"Doctor- where did you last come from? Not in relation to me- just, just where were you before you landed a few minutes ago?"

He couldn't meet her eyes. Didn't want to meet them, really- she would know. She always would know. "Mars," he whispered.

She cupped his face as she had done that dreadful day in the Library- the Library! Bella! This situation brought a whole new level of pain as he realized the child would be motherless before long. He looked into her eyes as she gazed compassionately at him, with far more understanding than he deserved right now.

"She will love you because no matter where you go or what you do, you are still you. And I've seen you at your darkest, my love," he flinched at the new title, "and never even at your most wretched, have you ever been able to hurt a child."

His mind filled with memories of wars in which he had fought, of Jenny and how his words were aimed to destroy, of his sons as they fought beside him in the Great Time War, of his daughters as they helped him make the decision to end all their lives. Perhaps River didn't know him as well as he thought.

"Yes, sometimes children get hurt the same way everyone does- but not by design and never by intention. And you always, always do everything in your power to save them, body and soul." Well, then. Maybe she does.

He shook his head- "But this charade, that I know her or that you know her, surely it would just be easier to explain? And it would probably be better for her as well, knowing right off that things are like this?" He tried to justify his desire to run, to come back when he knew the child who trusted him as implicitly and dangerously as her mother. He didn't want to be here. Didn't think he could bear it. But, he also couldn't believe that he would come back if he left. Ever.

As usual, River seemed to be able to read his mind. "I had that same reaction when this happened to me, my love. Wouldn't it be better to tell her I had no idea she even existed, then I could go about my life pretending perhaps she never would?"

He looked up at her then, a question in his eyes. "Then you said something to me that changed my entire outlook on the situation as I played along with was at the time your scheme."

"What- ahem- what did I say?"

Her lip curled up devilishly. "You said 'you're absolutely right. You go on and tell her.'"

Just then, Bella came back in sporting a mini World War II coat, a tutu, a fez, and a basket of strange foods, including fish fingers and custard, with her as she automatically reached out and took the Doctor's hand, swinging it casually and looked up with her piercing green eyes. "Okay, Daddy, can we go now?"

Blasted woman. Of course he couldn't be the one to tell this innocent, trusting child the truth. He put on his best fake smile and typed in coordinates for the Phosphorus Carousel of the Great Magellan Gestalt. So much for running.