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Doctor River Song lived a long life, much longer than the average human. Though, as anyone who knew her would tell, River Song was anything but average. Her time had come to an end but she’d long since accepted that and she was happy with what she’d done with what time she had gotten.
She’d grown up alongside her parents, something no one else, to her knowledge, had ever gotten to experience. She traversed the stars, bouncing between moments in time like a child on a playground and she saved countless lives in the process. She both dug for and made history. Most of all, in her opinion, she’d gotten the sunset to love her back, if only for a time.
And she’d had quite a lot of fun.
She’d gotten much more than she’d thought she would out of life. Even her end was better than anything she could have imagined. True she was inside a computer interface, having been successfully saved, but she wasn’t alone. Her whole team was with her. A group of archaeologists stuck with their friends inside a library with all the information about the universe they could possibly want? Well they could all think of much worse ways to go out.
Everything has to come to an end eventually, though. Even the digital deaths of her team. Soon the others faded, their data corroded with time, but River held on. Long enough to say goodbye, just one last time, with the promise of return. Though they’d both known it was a lie, River had just wanted one more normal moment with her Doctor and that’s what she got.
She felt herself fading. Her consciousness was returning to the library where it would continue to corrode until she faded completely and there was nothing left of her, just like she’d watched happen to the others. But she was okay with that.
Holding onto the warmth from her last moments with the Doctor, she allowed herself to begin dissolving into the coding of the library.
—-----------------------------
River gasped, her body burning. Every nerve in her was springing to life like a wildfire spreading through her. Her senses were all in overload. She bolted upright, still heaving. She couldn't see or hear but she could feel. She wrapped her arms around her core, tried to ground and orient herself.
This was her’s, River realized. Her body. Her mind was back in it. It wasn’t just the binarily coded one, that had always felt a bit fuzzy if she was being honest, but the living breathing one she’d once inhabited.
She desperately felt around, pushing her hands up and down her legs, into her hair, anything to get a grip on what was happening, to prove she was here. She felt the fabric of her spacesuit bunch up under her hands. As she blinked, vision began to return to River’s eyes and suddenly she could see it. The outfit she wore the day she died.
With her vision came her hearing.
“Thank fuck! I did not think that would work,” a familiar voice said directly in front of her. River looked up instinctively for the first time and she had never been quite so confused to see the face of Jack Harkness, and considering what he’s bound to become that’s truly saying something.
“Jack,” She breathed, her voice hoarse and scratchy. This body hasn’t spoken for some time.
“Doctor Song! Welcome back to the land of the living,” Jack smiled. Putting a hand on her shoulder, River swayed with his momentum, having no strength to stop it.
She didn’t understand. She was supposed to be dead. River ignored Jack, pulling her eyes away from him and scanning the room. She recognized this place. She was back in the library, but not where she died. River was sat on the floor in the center of the circular room where the Doctor had first met her when she’d arrived in the library. Blue light flooded the room from the windows above, washing them in its light. It didn’t make sense.
“When-“ River coughed and Jack put a flask in her hand.
“It’s water,” He said. She wasn’t sure she believed him but she drank it anyway. The water soothed her throat and more. River felt it bringing energy back into her body that invigorated her in a way she hadn’t felt in a long time.
“When,” She began again,” is it? And why am I here?”
“6035, and we need you. It was a long shot but it’s a good thing it worked cause chances are we’re not making it out of here without your help,” Jack answered. He turned and checked the entrances. Oh great, someone’s chasing him. When wasn’t there someone chasing him? River thought.
“How am I here?”
“I was just trying to save your coding before the space fascists could delete you-”
“Space fascists?” River interrupted.
“I’m getting there,” Jack retorted. “-but apparently the library saved your body the way it had with those people before. I just downloaded you.” He smirked. River felt a warm emotion wash over her. CAL saved her.
“Now come on, we’ve got to move.” He stood up quickly and offered River a hand which she took. He pulled her up and she wobbled on her feet. She regained her balance as he kept talking.
“Long story short: One: Don’t worry about the Vashta Nerada. It’s complicated but basically they left. Two: The library was being attacked by essentially space nazis when we got here. Burning books, destroying data, general fascism all around. They also kidnapped the Doctor and Co so I need your help to get ‘em back. And also stop the idiots from destroying the planet.”
The Doctor. Her Doctor. Oh, what trouble has that man gotten himself into this time? River wondered. She sighed with a roll of her eyes, the old habit returning as easy as breathing, but she wasn’t annoyed, she almost never was. The idea of seeing the Doctor again sparked excitement in her. Maybe their last parting hadn’t been as untruthful as she’d thought.
“Well, what are you waiting for, Captain? Let’s go!”
—-----------------------------
River fell right back into the action with ease. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed being shot at. She nicked a blaster off of the first space cop they found and River and Jack took off. Running both from and towards imminent destruction isn’t something most people expected to miss about being alive but nothing could match the feeling of the adrenaline River felt in her veins that mixed with the intoxicating promise of a new life. A promise she was trying very hard not to think about because the last thing she needed was to be so distracted that she let herself get hit by a rogue bullet and die for real this time.
Jack and River bounded down aisles, ducked around shelves, teased each other relentlessly, laughed as they made target practice of their space nazi assailants, and everything was as the universe intended.
The pair raced into another room and slammed the door behind them. It appeared to have been turned into a makeshift prison cell. There were four people tied up on the ground. An older man that looked rather distressed to be there, two people in their mid 20s bickering like brother and sister, and a blonde woman in a big blue jacket that looked entirely too pleased to have been kidnapped. The Doctor has always had such peculiar taste in companions.
“Captain Jack! You’re back!” Shouted the blonde, “Who’s-“ The woman cut herself off.
River ignored the group, leaving Jack to untie them, as she rushed to a computer console. She needed to alert Charlotte. If anyone could protect this library and the people in it, it was little Miss Lux; she’d proven it time and time again. River had grown close to CAL during her time inside the computer. They all had. Charlotte was a sweet and bright young girl who was fiercely protective of her library and River was sure she’d help them this time too.
“They took the screwdriver,” said one of the women.
“And my sandwich,” one of the men added. River rolled her eyes as she opened video communication with Charlotte.
The screen buzzed to life and she was looking at the living room she and her team had resided in for all those years but from the perspective of the television. She could just make out the girl in the kitchen.
“Charlotte!” River shouted. The girl turned abruptly and looked behind her.
“River?” CAL rushed to the tv set. “What are you doing in my Library? I thought I saved you.”
“You did. Don’t worry,” River assured her. She was suddenly overcome with a pang of guilt at leaving CAL all alone again. “A colleague of mine downloaded me back into my body because he needed my help, but now I need your help. The Library is under attack.”
“CAL!" Shouted a much too close voice from right behind River. She winced, turning to see the now untied companions and Jack had gathered around the computer. The blonde was the one who’d threaten to damage River’s newly alive eardrums.
“Glad you’re here! I never did figure out how to talk to you properly at time,” The woman continued, looking right at Charlotte.
“We were both distracted. It’s good to see you,” She said with a nod.
How this woman knew CAL, River didn’t know, but she didn’t have the time to figure it out. She and Jack took the lead explaining the library’s attackers to Charlotte. The companions got a couple words in here and there. River couldn’t help but notice they kept looking at the blonde, expecting her to speak, but she said nothing after greeting CAL. She just watched, eyes bouncing between River and Charlotte.
Through their speaking, River gathered their names, Graham, Ryan, and Yaz, but Blondie remained unnamed. River thought she may have caught her discouraging the others with glares and elbows when the conversation dipped in her direction. There was something off about this woman. River could tell that much, but protecting the library and finding the doctor took priority so she kept an eye on her and tabled the worry for later.
Pounding on the door grew louder as their assailants started to break through the door. River and Jack took the group out in no time as CAL activated her security drone. Turning back to them River was feeling good about having impressed some of her Doctor’s companions. It was always quite easy. She just had to take out a few people chasing them and throw in a few good lines and they were captivated. River reveled in being able to show off to her husband’s friends again.
Ryan looked envious of her and Jack’s abilities. Blondie was looking at River with dark eyes as she pulled on her collar, swallowing sharply as a blush began to spread up her neck. She’s cute, River thought. Suspicious, but cute. The other two didn’t seem as won over. Graham seemed confused and Yaz was looking disapprovingly at the blaster in her hand.
“Who are you?” Graham asked.
“Doctor River Song, Archaeologist.” She stuck her hand to shake his hand. He took River’s hand after a moment of hesitation, still eyeing her.
“I thought the Doctor didn’t like guns?” Yaz asked, looking between her and the Blonde. Blondie and the Doctor must have argued about it. River scoffed.
“Oh, he doesn’t,” River said. “Hate’s shooting people, but if I remember correctly he quite likes it when I do it.” She smiled, remembering her husband. All the times he’d stood by her side, the way he would look at her with those big wide eyes as she took down enemies, the heat in his eyes.
River blinked out of the memory as Jack scoffed.
“There isn’t much the Doctor wouldn’t let slide for you if you asked nicely.”
“I would hope so. I'm his wife. I’ve saved his life enough times, I think I’ve earned it.” River spoke as she walked to the security drone to make sure it was fully functional, ignoring everyone’s reactions as they mumbled to each other about the Doctor. She pushed down the pang of hurt. No doubt he hadn’t told them about her. He was known for pushing away painful memories. River couldn’t wait to turn things around for him about this particular memory.
There are more coming. You need to move.
The words flashed on the drone’s display. She patted the top of the drone like she had always patted Charlotte on the head. She was thankful for CAL’s help. An angry heat burned in River’s chest. She hadn’t been alive very long this time and these people had already taken her husband and invaded Charlotte’s library. She’d come to think of the girl as a daughter over the years. She reminded River so much of herself when she was young. She couldn’t help but see the similarities of her first body, trapped in a spacesuit not unlike the one she's wearing now, and Charlotte trapped in her Library. No one had come to save River but she’d be damned if she wasn’t going to keep saving Charlotte. Those people were not making it off this planet breathing. Not if she had anything to say about it.
“Let’s get moving. I've been dead for a long time now and I do not take kindly to people kidnapping my husband and hurting my friend.”
—-----------------------------
The Doctor’s companions proved entirely unhelpful for the rest of their mission. River and Jack handled almost everything. Taking out all of the attackers that made it past CAL’s collapsing shelves, catapulted novels, and locked doors. Though Blondie and Yaz did get in a few good hits with their own hardback projectiles.
All four of them seemed a little too preoccupied with something to be of much use. Plus Blondie was developing a staring problem. Not that River wasn’t fully aware that she could be quite a distracting sight when she wanted to be, but she was wearing a bulky spacesuit and she had only been alive for a few hours that day. She hadn’t seen a mirror since being revived but she couldn’t have looked that good, all things considered. Not good enough to garner so much attention. She could feel Blondie’s eyes on her wherever she went and it was beginning to be unsettling. Maybe she and the doctor had a thing going on and she was upset she hadn’t known he was married. He always did have a thing for pretty little humans.
In the end they were able to take down all the attackers except for a few who escaped back onto their ship. River managed to shoot out an engine as they flew off so they weren’t likely to make it far.
River blew the smoke off her smoking blaster and turned to face the others. Ryan was sitting on the floor, his legs spread wide, panting in exhaustion. Graham was leaning over, hands on his knees, looking equally tired. Yaz had her hands on her hips, looking up at the sky, chest heaving. They must be relatively new. Not used to all the running yet. Meanwhile, Blondie was searching one of the dead guy’s pockets. Where had the Doctor found that one?
Jack shot his squareness gun at the ship taking out a chunk of the floor and laughed as one of them fell out.
“That’s what those fuckers get for being nazis in fucking 6035!” He flipped his gun in a dramatic flair and stuck it back in its holster.
“Graham,” Blondie looked up, flipping some of her hair out of her face only for it to fall right back. “I found your sandwich!” She held up a plastic wrapped little thing with a wide smile.
“Oh thanks, Doc. Don’t know what those idiots thought I would do with a sandwich. Confiscating it like a weapon.” He scoffed.
So she was called Doc, River figured. That must get confusing. She settled for calling her Blondie.
Blondie bent back down and grabbed another thing out of a pocket.
“The sonic!” She shouted with a little jump, holding it tightly. “I was worried one of them had it.” She waved vaguely at the sky where the ship had disappeared into the distance.
River plucked it out of her hands as she tried to pocket it.
“I’ll take this from here, Blondie.” She said, eyeing a design she’d never seen for the sonic. The Doctor’s made some changes to it. River needed to find him. She stuffed it in her pocket and shouted out to Jack.
“Do you know where they were keeping him?”
“Huh?” Jack turned to her, eyebrows scrunching in confusion. River rolled her eyes with a huff.
“The Doctor. My Doctor. Timelord. Two hearts. Sexy know-it-all.”
“Oh, right.” Jack deflated. He took a deep breath and glanced up. River’s heart sank.
“Jack Harkness, if you're about to tell me he’s on that ship that we were just shooting at I’m going to start testing the limits of that immortality of yours.”
“What? No. The Doctor’s fine.” Jack moved towards her.
“Let’s go get him then. Where is he?” She asked. Everyone was looking at her. Normally River didn’t mind being the center of attention, but not when they looked at her like that. Like they knew something she didn’t. There was only one face she tolerated that look from and she didn’t enjoy getting it from his companions. Well, Blondie wasn’t doing it. She had suddenly become very interested in the pockets of her coat.
“Sh-H- The Doctor is fine.” Jack repeated with a huff.
“Ok. Let’s. Go. Get. Him.” River repeated slower as if that would get it through Jack’s head.
He sighed and looked up at the sky, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Doctor, I know you’re worried but would you please just tell her already and put the rest of us out of our misery?” He was still pointedly looking up.
Was the Doctor here? River looked around. She thought she’d know him when she saw him, even if he changed, but she hadn’t last time so maybe she had missed him. It couldn’t be one of the companions. Was he hiding from her worried about what she’d say? Surely he’d know she’d always love him. Maybe he’d regenerated again? They’d talked about it when he’d regenerated last time so surely he knew she didn’t care what he looked like. Had he moved on? Had he left his feelings for River in the past? How long has he lived without her?
River’s eyes darted around the library, looking for any signs of a person that wasn’t the four companions or Jack but she didn’t find any.
“River,” One of the companions spoke. It sounded like Blondie but River didn’t bother looking to find out.
“What?”
“River, look at me.”
“I’m a little bit busy trying to find my husband at the moment.”
“I know, Sweetie,” Blondie said softly.
River froze. Her entire body went cold as she slowly turned to face her.
“What did you just call me?”
“Sweetie, I-“ The woman in front of her spoke. Dozens of possibilities raced through River’s mind.
“I know I should have said something when you came back but-“ She looked away, up at the sky. She reached up and rubbed the back of her neck with nervous energy.
“But you’re perfect as ever. And I’m different. And scared. And-“ She locked eyes with River.
Connection washed over River. It was a familiar feeling that filled her veins with warmth. For the first time, River fully took in the woman in front of her. She was beautiful. River had been too distracted to see it before. She stood an inch or two shorter than River; a height difference she could definitely see herself getting used to. Her dyed blonde hair was messy, like she was constantly running her fingers through it. She had a light layer of makeup on, mascara smearing around the edges like she’s been wiping away tears. It only proved to draw attention to her eyes: a bright green around the edges fading to a golden brown into the center of her pupils. River could already see herself getting lost in those eyes trying to catalogue every color.
“River, I watched us run. Watching us run, it was the best part of my life. ” The Doctor gave a tearful smile. The Doctor. Her Doctor. Emotion bubbled up in Rivers chest; the swell welling up in her eyes.
“And when we left Durilium and I knew I was sending you here. I- I never thought I’d see you again. And-”
River couldn’t take it anymore.
“Sweetie,” River interrupted.
“Yes?” The Doctor looked up at her with what may be the biggest puppy dog eyes River had ever seen. She knew right then that she wouldn’t ever be able to deny her anything. Not when that look in her eyes.
“Just kiss me already.” Her eyes lit up, a smirk coming to the Doctor’s lips.
“Yes Ma’am.”