About twenty-four hours and two near-death experiences later, the Doctor and River decided it was time to go. Though neither of them would admit it, they were both glad that their two adventures were not included in the twenty-four hours but were, instead, extra time they got to spend together.
River teased the Doctor, saying that he had deliberately landed them places where there was trouble just so they could spend more time together. He scowled in response and grumbled about how it was the Tardis's fault, kicking at the console to emphasize his point. This earned a chuckle from his wife and he could only grin in response. He knew she was aware of the fact he wasn't really upset.
"You still haven't told me," she said, leaning against a control panel. "Where exactly do they find me?"
"You're still a student at Luna University. That's the first place they'll look and, from what I've heard, that's where they arrest you," the Doctor explained.
"But I killed you in the past. How do they even know to arrest me at all?"
"From what I understand, the Silence tipped them off. If my information is correct, they were expecting to have to search for you, possibly throughout time as well as space. Naturally, they started their search where you lived and were surprised to find you there."
"In that case, we had better get me there."
The Doctor nodded and began flipping switches and pressing buttons, nudging her out of the way as he went past. She just laughed, ignoring the fact that several of the buttons he pressed didn't need pressing at all.
"I'll make the Tardis invisible," he informed her. "So I'll be here the whole time."
"Do you think I'm going to need your help being arrested?" she teased.
"No, I just want to make sure they don't hurt you."
She laughed again. "It's not like you could do anything about it if they did. You're dead, remember? They're arresting me for killing you. If you appear out of nowhere to stop them, I might end up having to actually shoot you to make sure I end up in prison."
"I'm not going to do anything, it's just so I know who to punish later."
River rolled her eyes. "Just take me home. I'm gonna find something to wear."
Seeing as she didn't know how or when the clothes in her room had gotten there, she figured it was best to just find something from the Tardis's wardrobe. She made her way down to the room and began going through the many clothes that hung from the racks. She finally found a dress that she liked the look of and slipped into it. She was almost surprised that it seemed to fit her perfectly.
The Tardis has clothes for everyone, she thought with a smile. She quickly found a pair of heels that matched and pulled them on. Making her way back to her room, she rummaged around in a drawer until she found what she was looking for. She held the small tube up, running her finger over the "R.S." engraved near the bottom. Pulling the cap off, she held the red lipstick up to her nose to smell it. Her lips curled into a cheeky smirk.
Having tucked the tube of lipstick away, she made her way back to the control room. The Doctor looked up as she climbed the steps.
"I thought you were going to prison, not a party," he laughed.
She flashed him a winning smile. "Is there a difference?"
"River," he sighed, shaking his head in amusement.
There was a violent shake and they both grabbed onto the console for support. The Doctor began flipping switches and pressing buttons. River followed after him, correcting his mistakes. He glared at her and tried to nudge her away but she ignored him as she proceeded to land the Tardis more gently than it had been landed in a long time.
"Thanks for the ride, Sweetie," she said as she began making her way towards the doors. He caught her by slipping his arms around her waist and pulling her into a hug. She squirmed in his grasp.
"Did you think I'd just let you run off like that?" he murmured, his mouth near her ear and his voice muffled by his curls.
She turned in his arms to offer him a cheeky smile. "What? You need a goodbye kiss?"
The Doctor quickly let go of her and took a step back, blushing slightly. "N-no. Well, maybe, but there are things I need to tell you."
"Like what?"
"I'll be back to see you as soon as I can but the next time you'll see me, it will be an earlier version."
"An earlier version?" she said, crossing her arms and giving him a confused look.
"Yes, time travel. You and I never seem to meet in the right order. I've known you for a while now but mostly you when you're older. You'll see me again soon but it will be a younger version of me; a version who isn't married to you."
River pouted. "Why can't I have you instead?"
He laughed and pulled her back into a hug. "Because it's too late. I've already lived it."
"Well, you should have waited."
"I didn't know what was going to happen, I just wanted to spend time with you. I didn't know you were married to me. You didn't tell me."
"Should I tell you?" she asked.
"No," he replied quickly. "Spoilers."
She raised her eyebrows didn't say anything. Instead, she slipped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss. He started before melting into the kiss. River pulled away a moment later.
"How much time do I have?"
"Uhh." The Doctor checked his watch. "Twenty minutes, I think."
"Okay. More than enough time to pack a few things." She pulled out of his arms and started towards the doors once more.
"Pack?" he exclaimed. "You're going to prison, not on holiday!"
River just laughed. The Doctor moved to make the Tardis invisible but his wife called over her shoulder before he had reached the control panel.
"Don't touch anything, dear. She's already invisible."
Scowling like a grumpy five-year-old, he followed her out of the Tardis. He stopped in the doorway and leaned against the frame. Taking a look around, he realized they must be in River's office. An amused smile replaced his frown when he realized she had arranged it like a proper office, with a desk in the middle of the room, positioned so that you'd be facing the door while working. A few bookcases lined the walls but there were more books scattered across the floor than there were on the shelves. The books on the floor were all open to different pages and the mess was added to by the files and papers that were strewn haphazardly among them.
River just stepped over the mess on her way to the door.
"Sweetie, could you pick all this up for me?" she said. "Books go on the shelves, files and papers on the desk. I doubt I'll be coming back here for a long while so it doesn't really matter that it'll all be a mess."
"It's already a mess," he pointed out.
"An organized mess," she said simply before vanishing through the door. Her head appeared around the frame. "Oh, and no reading anything."
The Doctor let out a sigh and moved to do as she had asked. Ten minutes later, he had stacked all of River's papers on her desk and organized the books on her shelves by color. Most of the books had been about Archeology or History and, at first, he hadn't been tempted to read them. However, he had soon realized that all the books were opened to events he had been involved in. He suspected the papers were all about him. His suspicions were confirmed when he spotted his name on several of the pages and he understood why she had told him not to read anything.
River appeared a moment later, carrying a bag in her hand. Her gaze fell on the color-coded bookshelves and she rolled her eyes before moving to set her bag behind her desk.
"Good, you're done," she said. "Now, you'd better get inside the Tardis."
"Right," he said, scratching his head awkwardly. River pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth before pushing him towards the invisible Tardis. She laughed as he bumped into the doors before snapping his fingers to open them.
"I can't decide whether it would be funnier if the Tardis was visible or not," she chuckled.
He frowned before slipping into the Tardis. Letting the doors fall shut behind him, he hurried over to the console. He grabbed the scanner and pulled it around so he could look at the screen. River had taken a seat behind her desk and was straightening the papers he had tried to stack neatly.
When she was done, she turned and the Doctor could see her face. She sat back in her chair, a smirk playing on her lips. Anyone who entered the room would have thought she was staring through the window at the stars beyond. But in reality, her gaze was fixed on the seemingly empty space between herself and the wall where she knew the Tardis was resting.
A moment later, she heard a knock on the door to her flat. Well, it wasn't so much as a knock as a series of very loud bangs. Someone was pounding on her door and she knew who it was. A voice came from outside.
"Open up!"
River didn't move. The banging continued before turning into a series of louder, evenly spaced crashes. With one final crash, she heard the door cave in. Footsteps came running through her front room, piling into her office. Her smirk widened as she heard the sound of their guns being raised.
"Hello, boys!" she called before any of them could speak. She could see the look of surprise on their faces from their reflections in the window. She had clearly caught them off guard. "I've been expecting you."
Quickly recovering from their surprise, they raised their guns to aim at her again. One of them spoke.
"River Song, we are arresting you for the murder of the man known as the Doctor," he said as confidently as he could manage.
Her smirk grew impossibly bigger as her gaze moved from the window to the space in front of her. The Doctor found himself looking directly into her eyes once more.
"The Doctor?" she asked. She winked at him before turning her chair around slowly. When she was facing the soldiers, she offered them an innocent smile and raised an eyebrow. "Doctor who?"
"Stand up," the man in the center commanded, gesturing with his pistol.
She did so slowly, her smile reverting back to a maddening smirk.
"Hands up."
She raised her hands above her head, her smile never faltering. She could see that they were getting nervous.
"You're coming with us," the commander ordered.
"I thought that would be the case. In fact, I've already packed." She leaned down to pick up her bag, grinning as the soldiers jumped and adjusted their aim.
"I don't have any weapons," she said. "Scan me if you like. Scan the bag. I'm unarmed."
The commander motioned for one of the men to do so. He stepped forward and pulled out a scanner, pointing it at River and her bag. A moment later, he stepped back and nodded at his commander.
"All clear."
"Good," River said cheerfully. "Now, shall we be going?"
She stepped around the desk as three of the soldiers came forward. Two of them grabbed her arms and pulled them behind her as the third one snapped handcuffs around her wrists.
"Ooh, handcuffs," she observed. "Love handcuffs. Good thing to have. Very useful, maybe I should keep a pair in my bag. Might come in handy."
The Doctor chuckled as River grinned in his direction once more. She winked at one of the soldiers but the Doctor knew that it was meant for him. He felt himself blush and was glad she couldn't see him, though he was certain she probably knew anyway. Even though she was young, she was still his River.
He waited until he was sure the soldiers had led her out of the flat before leaving. He knew he should probably find something to do on his own but the temptation to spend more time with River was too big to ignore. He quickly dialed in the coordinates that would bring him to Stormcage on a night when he wasn't already there.
River had been taken to Stormcage and a short trial had been held. They had retrieved her files notebook from the Luna University Library, as well as the papers in her office, to be used as evidence against her. She had been sentenced with twelve thousand consecutive life sentences -- which she thought was a bit extreme -- and was thrown in a cell. Once she was alone, she had pulled out some more comfortable clothes, a pair of tights and a grey tank-top, and had changed into them. Then she dropped onto her cot.
She had managed to convince them to let her have her notebook, arguing that she couldn't do anything with it, and was now sat on her bed, staring at the marked page. The date sat in the middle of it with a circle around the inked letters and numbers.
So, it's over then, she thought, feeling both relieved and happy. The Doctor is dead.
A small smile formed on her lips but it changed to a frown as she flipped through the blank pages. He gave me this. What am I supposed to do with it?
She turned it back to the page with the date. Might as well record what happened, just in case I do forget.
A few minutes later, she had settled comfortably, or as comfortably as possible, on her small cot and was scribbling away in the book, writing all about what had just happened and how she had just killed and married the Doctor. As she wrote, the familiar sound of the Tardis engines reached her ears. Looking up, she saw the blue box materializing inside her cell.
A smile formed on her face as she got to her feet and started towards the Tardis. It didn't matter to her that the Doctor inside it wasn't her husband yet, she was just glad she could spend time with him again. Besides, if her studies on him were accurate, she knew that time with the Doctor would always be exciting.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please vote and comment.
I don't really have anything to add her.
Have a good day!
Bye!
Written August 18, 2019.