The Doctor lazed about the TARDIS in a depressed slump. The Ponds were gone and it was his fault. He's had this augment with himself a thousand times now, but he still felt that it had been his carelessness that allowed the Angels to get to them. He was the one who had said 'Hey, let's go to New York City!'. He couldn't blame where they landed because of the TARDIS, because for once, for once, he chose where to go and they landed somewhat smoothly.

The Doctor looked up with a sigh from what he was currently working on. In the past ten minutes he had turned the thing over in his hands a hundred times and attached and detached the same wire absentmindedly while his own thoughts rose against him. With a grunt he took the piece, a long broken temporal distorter, and chucked against the nearest wall.

He left the small workshop and slowly made his way back to the console room, his feet feeling like they were made of lead. Completely silly, but that's exactly what it felt like, like every step was heavier and slower than the next. His whole body felt like it was trying to sink through the floor of the TARDIS and right to somewhere dark and safe.

And he thought like that too. He wanted so badly to just disappear into the dark, but he couldn't do that. Maybe he should just go blow something up instead. Yes, that sounded nice. Maybe he could go pick up River and blow something up with her… Yes, that sounded like a proper plan.

The Doctor put in the coordinates for Stormcage and within a couple minutes, the TARDIS landed no rougher than usual and the Doctor popped his head out of the doors, a pathetic fake grin halfway plastered on his face. At the moment, it was probably the best he manage.

But what he saw next, completely wiped the fake smile off his face and gave him a much more real and believable emotion. And that emotion was shock.

"Hello Sweetie." River said with a wide and seemingly very real smile. But the Doctor couldn't answer; he couldn't even look her in the eye. His eyes were completely glued on the elephant in the room. Well, it wasn't an elephant. It was River's very round, very large stomach that didn't come from over eating.

"Sweetie? What is it? What's the matter?" She asked, drawing him back from his racing thoughts. With an unsteady hand, he pointed at River's protruding abdomen. However, as in control of his movements as he was, he wasn't quite in control of his mind, nor his mouth.

"River… What's- What?!" He said fast and panicked. Oh, this couldn't be happening, please, River, says it's a joke, or or or a mistake, or something! Anything, just please say it's not his-

River's face turned from pleasantly surprised at his sudden appearance to confused. "What are you- Oh…" She stopped midsentence when she realized that he truly didn't know. "You're too earlier…" She whispered, mostly to herself but he could still hear her even though his ears were ringing and his hearts were pounding.

"River… Please tell me this is…." He stopped halfway through, unable to complete his sentence as he stuttered on the last word. "Or… Just…" He found that he couldn't complete any of his sentences.

River took a deep breath. "It's yours… She's yours…"

"…She…?" The Doctor asked, more a whisper than an actual word, as he ran a hand through his hair and left the TARDIS, leaving the doors wide open and crossed over to the bars that separated them.

"Yes, the baby is a she." River said gently as she got up, using one hand to support her belly and she went over to the bars, picking up her well-worn blue diary on the way. "Where are we, Doctor?" Obviously we're before dinner on Lucerne…"

"I, uh…" The Doctor cleared his throat. "Just got past New York…"

River's face fell as she recalled the events of New York and the fate of her parents. She looked away from the Doctor for a second while trying to sustain her composer. She looked back at him and reached through the bars. The Doctor saw her hand and gently laced his fingers through hers, gripping her hand tightly.

"So… Um… When did this happen?" The Doctor asked, motioning towards River's belly. "And when are you…"

"Spoilers." River said softly. "And as for that, I think it's pretty much any day now." She said, squeezing the Doctor's hand.

"Right…" The Doctor said as he squeezed River's hand back before pulling away. He fiddled around his tweed jacket before pulling out screwdriver. He pointed it at the panel next to the bars and with a few sparks, the bars slid aside, the barrier between River and the Doctor disappearing into the wall. The Doctor wanted to reach out and pull River into his embrace, but there was one last barrier separating them.

The alarms blared as the Doctor wordlessly led River to the TARDIS. Without so much as a glance, the Doctor raised the sonic high and pressed a button on the side, both turning off the alarm and the closest lights; drowning them in darkness, save for the warm glow of the interior of the TARDIS. The couple stepped through and closed the door as they heard the hurried footsteps of the guards trying in vain to prevent River Song's escape.

After the TARDIS when in the safety of the time vortex, the Doctor escorted River to the often used med bay. However, he had never used it to track the growth of a child, it was all too new for him, even though he had been a father before, a very long time ago… But even then, Time Lord Children were loomed… Making this all too strange.

Silently, the Doctor shifted through piles of unused medical equipment until he found what he was looking for, a 48th century type of ultrasound. Keeping his newfound quietness, the Doctor silently rolled up River's shirt to expose her stomach and strap the two camera like devices on either side of her bulging midsection. Then, without even glancing at River, he looked at a nearby screen and pressed a blue button on one of the cameras.

The screen came to life with a static crackle and through the many different shades of gray, ranging though light gray to an almost black gray, the Doctor could barely make out a nose, maybe a few fingers and a forehead.

"Hang on…" The Doctor said as he fiddled with a dial next to the blue button. The picture on screen fluctuated through a couple shades of the rainbow before pixilating. The picture became clearer as the Doctor messed with the dial more before the picture completely cleared and in high definition, showed a tiny face with a button nose and closed eyes, all bathed in a light pink. The baby moved, her little arms sluggishly jerking about. Other than her slightly moving limbs, the tiny girl wasn't really moving about.

"She's so…" River whispered, her voice filled with emotion, something the Doctor has rarely heard before. The Doctor barely noticed as her hand found his and squeezed reassuringly , because he was too engrossed with the tiny pink thing on screen.

"Perfect?" The Doctor said, completely River's sentence before he even realized the words had come tumbling out of his mouth. Just looking at the picture, he felt a warm glow swell in his chest, a feeling he hasn't felt in such a long time.

"Yes." River said quietly as she squeezed the Doctor's hand again.

"Um… She's about…" The Doctor paused as he looked at another device, reading measurements. "Five pounds… So she's a bit small, but about ready to be born…" He trailed off, not really sure of what to compare this too. There wasn't ever a Time Lord/Human hybrid… And if there was, then the child was loomed, not born naturally. Anything could happen…

"When do you think she'll be born?" River asked, cutting his thoughts off. He looked back up and saw that the little girl on screen had started to move about a lot more, kicking and hitting the sides of her little confinement. After a few seconds the child started to still and the Doctor looked at River and saw she was rubbing her belly soothingly, avoiding the two cameras.

"Um… A few days or so…" The Doctor said quietly as he watched River sooth the little girl. On the screen she quieted down and began to suck on a finger. "We'll stay in the vortex until then."

River looked away sadly when the Doctor looked from the screen to her. "What about after?" She asked sadly. "We can't just keep her in the TARDIS, and I can't raise her in prison…."

"You don't have to go back to Stormcage." The Doctor said. "Not yet. We'll settle down somewhere, just until she's old enough to travel, then we'll go and travel together…"

"We can't." River said softly and on the verge of tears. "I have to go back to prison…"

"You don't have to… You can stay… It's a time machine, River." The Doctor said just as softly, but he knew how this would already end. She would leave him and he would either have to raise this kid all by himself or do something with the girl… But there was no way that he could just drop her off at an orphanage.

"I can't tell who how, but I know that I don't get to raise Amelia. You do." River said as she continued to stroke her belly.

"… Amelia?" The Doctor asked, barely noticing that his voice croaked.

"Yes. Her name is Amelia Pond Smith." River said with a small smile. The Doctor swallowed the lump in his throat and looked back at the screen. The little girl was still sucking on her finger contently; unaware of what was happening around her.

"Uh…" The Doctor cleared his throat. "Did you name her?"

"No, and neither did you." She whispered and she rubbed the back of his hand with her thumb.

"But… Who named her then?" The Doctor asked as he took one last look at the little girl before turning off the screen and taking the cameras off of River's protruding belly.

"Spoilers." River said as he put the equipment away on a nearby shelf, someplace he could easily get them again if needed. He gave a short little nod to River before helping her up.

"So, until little Amelia is born, we'll just hang about in the vortex." The Doctor said.

"Okay." River said as they left the med bay, hand in hand.