Spacewives Oneshot

7

               The Wife of River Song

                      greywardenblue

Time was swirling around her like sand in a hourglass, questions and answers alike slipping through her fingers. Her thoughts were too loud and too many, and she could feel a scream building in her chest, begging to be let out. She wanted to break something. She wanted to break a lot of somethings.

In her desperation, one thought overcame the others and shouted louder - shouted a single name. An impossible name, a person she couldn’t reach.

River.

He had taken her to the Singing Towers and they stayed together through the long, long night. But the night was over now, and the Doctor had known from the beginning where the story would end. In a cold library full of shadows.

Suddenly, she froze. There was a memory whispering to her, begging to be listened to. A memory that had always been there, but she hadn’t made the connection before.

She moved with a new determination.

--

Her companions - her fam - fell silent when she entered, but she ignored that for now.

“I need to go to a place and talk to someone,” she said. “I can drop you off at home and pick you up later, or… you can come with me and explore the place while I’m busy. It’s your choice.” It would be risky, but what she was doing was already risky. Surely, the three of them can’t make it worse.

The three of them looked at each other, then all turned back to her. There was no argument.

“We’re going with you,” Yaz said.

--

“Oh, right. Important thing,” she said as they exited the TARDIS. “Do not refer to me by my name while we are here. Either to me, or to others. Call me Jo… no, not John. Joanne? Jo. Jane. Something like that.”

“Jane suits you,” Ryan said.

The Doctor nodded. “Jane it is. I’ll meet you here in a few hours. Don’t get lost.” And then she was off without looking back. Her eyes scanned the tables at the restaurant desperately, and she was beginning to think she had gotten the wrong time, or that some kind of paradox would stop her… but no, there they were.

A married couple - one of many - out on a date at the restaurant overlooking the Singing Towers.

“Excuse me. Hi.” They both looked up at her, but she was only looking at the woman. “Very sorry to interrupt. I need River, immediately. I’ll bring her back in a bit. Won’t take her too far.”

“We’re in the middle of--” the older man said, but she paid him no mind. She grabbed River’s hand and pulled her up from the chair, towards the corridor.

River followed her out without a scene, but yanked her hand back the moment they were alone. “And now, I hope you have a very good reason for interrupting my date with my husband,” she said, and she looked so furious that the Doctor had to smile. “I will let you know that I’m armed--”

The Doctor didn't let her finish. “Hello, sweetie," she said softly, and it came out sadder than she intended.

River stared at her in shock, and she could feel the tears threatening to roll down her cheek, all her emotions on the verge of overflowing. But they couldn't. Not yet. Not while her wife was looking at her with such wide eyes.

Then, after a moment River said, “Oh.” And without another word, she stepped forward and pulled the Doctor into her arms.

--

He glanced at the nearby clock again, acknowledging that time was strange and two minutes could indeed feel like a year, then returned to watching the people around him, desperately wishing for somebody interesting to walk in.

At first, he didn’t follow. River was a grown woman, and she had a life outside of him - this datecrasher could have had any kind of urgent work-related information that justified interrupting, and she didn’t seem malicious.

Then after half a minute, he had followed anyway. He had found them on a balcony, the younger woman curled into River’s chest and clinging to her for dear life. They didn’t see her - possibly because River’s hair had been covering both their faces - so he had turned around and walked back to the table.

Jealousy would have been pointless, and besides, River hadn’t been jealous a couple of years ago when Jack dropped in to visit and immediately snogged him as a greeting. He only minded because they were being interrupted now , on what was his last night with River. And a last night could never, ever be long enough.

“I almost thought you’d go home without me,” River said, taking her seat again.

“Food got cold,” the Doctor said. “But no matter. That looked important.”

“It was.”

The Doctor nodded quietly. He wasn’t going to ask, but in the end, he couldn’t resist. “Who was that, by the way?”

River smiled. “My wife.”

He raised a hand to his hearts, mimicking hurt. “Another one?”

River laughed, and the Doctor thought he could never live without that sound again. “My favorite one.”