River's immediate reaction was to reach down and pull out the gun she had concealed in her boots. However, before she had even begun to act, she felt a pair of hands enclose around either side of her hips as her husband gently shoved her into the doorway behind, placing himself between River and the woman in the centre of the room.

'Come come, Doctor' Madame Kovarian hissed, 'Let me look upon the child I raised from the cradle.'

The sound of the voice made River feel sick, reminding her of a childhood she could scarcely recall. River felt her head becoming lighter, and she could her the blood pumping through her heart. She stumbled, and heard her self cry out 'Doctor'.

And then everything dark.

Darkness was her life. She couldn't recall a time when she had ever seen the light of the sun she had read about.

She wasn't scared of the darkness. The darkness was her friend. The only light she ever saw was when they came to visit her. They scared her, and so did the light they brought with them. White and bright, revelling the faces she dreaded to look upon, and yet could never remember.

She was alone, and then she wasn't. The woman stood before her, grim as ever.

'Why must you accomplish your task?' The woman asked her.

'Because the Doctor is the destroyer of all.' She recited.

'And what is your task, Melody?'

'I must kill the Doctor.'

'River!'

Opening her eyes slowly, River found her self on the floor of the holding cell, looking into a pair of concerned green eyes

'Doctor?' She said, her voice sounding thick and groggy. 'What happened?'

The only reply the Doctor gave was a sigh of relief, before he stood and quickly moved toward the woman in the centre of the room.

'I don't know what you are doing here.' He growled 'I don't know how you got here, and I don't know how you could possibly still be alive. All I know is that I'm going to give you one chance to leave this universe now. Go back to wherever it is you came from, and rot their for the rest of your miserable existence.'

Kovarian laughed.

'Doctor, do you truly think that I will leave this place willingly, knowing that you still live?'

River looked at the Doctor as he starred down at the woman. Her head still felt very hazy, and her vision was somewhat blurred, but she heard the Doctor when he spoke. And when he did, River was certain that no man had ever sounded as dangerous

'Then I will give you one warning. Just one. If you harm anyone in this universe, anyone at all, I will kill you.' He paused for a moment, bending down so that he was look Kovarian in the eyes. 'And if you lay a hand on my wife, I will do worse than kill you. I will destroy you, bit by bit, until you beg for death.'

This time, Kovarian did not laugh.

The Doctor spun around, walking back over towards River, who was still on the floor, her head still spinning. Wordlessly, he bent over and picked her up.

The Duplicate Doctor, who was still standing by the door, looked at the Doctor with a look of complete and utter bewilderment, before rushing to open the door. That was the last thing River remembered before she blacked out again.

Rose sat on a chair near the reception desk. It had only been 3 minutes and 23 seconds since her husband and their guests had gone down the elevator, and she was already bored. At home, she could hardly sit still for 2 minutes before getting up and doing something. It wasn't in her nature to sit back and do nothing.

She was just about to go and interrogate Patrick about the latest cases when she heard her phone ringing in her bag. She reach down and grabbed it out.

'Hello?'

'Rose, what are you doing at work?'

'Mum? How'd you know that I'm-'

'Patrick is under strict orders to contact me if you show your face there.'

Rose look over at Patrick, who was looking very sheepish, and sent him a glare before continuing her conversation.

'I was just here checkin' something out with the Doctor, I wasn't doing any work.' She explained. 'And besides, what gives you the right to-'

'I'm your mother, I have every right to make sure you're as healthy and as calm as possible for when the baby comes.'

'Jesus, Mum, you're not even in the bloody country and you're still interfering with my life'

'As is my right. Any love, I gotta go. Dad and Tony send their love. We're about to head off on an overnight safari. Tons' about to wet himself with excitement about seeing real life Lions. You get home and rest up. We don't want that baby arriving before we get home. Bye, love you!'

'Love you too.' Rose said, before hanging up the phone.

Just as she was putting her phone back in her bag, she heard the ding of the elevator, and looked up to see her husband rushing out of the door, closely followed by the other Doctor, who was holding River in his arms.

Before Rose could say anything, her husband and grabbed her arm and then they were rushing out of the door, headed for the car.

'What is it?' She asked the Doctor as she trotted along beside him. 'What happened?'

'Not here' She heard the Doctor behind them say.

They quickly made their way to the car. Upon arrival, the other Doctor gently lay River down onto the back seat, before sitting down there himself, cradling her head in his lap.

Rose squeezed herself into the front seat, while her Doctor started the car and drove them away from the institute, toward their flat.

'Doctor?' She said to her husband. 'Can you tell me what's happening?'

'Honestly Rose,' He said, turning to look at her briefly. 'I have absolutely no idea. But whoever that woman down there is...they know her.'

Rose turned around to look at the Doctor sitting in the back, intent upon making him explain what was going on. However, any questions she had dissapeared from her lips as soon as she looked at him.

He took no notice of her, having eyes only for the woman lying before him. He gazed at her with so much love and adoration that Rose felt as if she was intruding upon a very private moment. With one hand, he gently caressed River's face, while the other was lost in her curls as he supported her head.

As she looked on, Rose found herself wondering how this woman had managed to capture the hearts of this man so completely. She knew it would be an epic story, though perhaps not one for now.

'Is she gonna be okay?' She asked instead.

The Doctor looked up, and Rose knew that he really hadn't noticed her looking on at him and River.

The Doctor nodded his head.

'She has to be.'

hey pals, what's it been this time? 6 months? ah well, thanks for sticking with me.

if you liked river's flashback bit, then check out my other fic 'he cradled and he rocked her'. it's my favourite thing that i have ever written and i am super proud of it.

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read and review and make my day a little bit better.

thanks and cya!