Chapter Text
"River you have to do this." The Doctor muttered through gritted teeth as his face twisted in a quivering grimace. He looked up at his wife, her face stained with sweat and tears as she was shook her head in refusal.
"No, no please." She whined as she squeezed his hand tighter. She had tried all her life to never let him see the pain she was in. But today she could not hide the pain from him even if she had wanted to. It was all around them the pain of the lives they lead, of those they lost and the lies they were forced to tell.
The Doctor placed his hand behind River's soaked head as their foreheads touched. He closed his eyes, trying to compose himself. This was never how he imagined things would go. "I will do everything in my power to help you remember, but if you die refusing to do this I can't help you." His words were thick and monotone, his frustration clear.
River looked at him, her chest heaving with the effort of her toiled breath. All she could manage to vocalize her were racking sobs. She looked at him and gave a small nod.
The Doctor gave her a hint of a smile. "All right River," He said without assuredness "push"
River’s screams echoed off of the walls of the TARDIS medical bay. This was a moment in her life which should have been joyful and amazing, yet it wasn't. Invisible forces were always working on her life. They always had been, trying to find a way to punish her for crimes she had yet to commit, or for the misguided actions she had at an earlier time in her life. But now more than ever she was being punished, by both her past and her future, and she would never know.
One day was all the time Melody Pond was going to get before they purged the memory of her own child from her mind. She would never remember carrying the child or giving birth to the child. Its name could never be retained in her mind. And if she ever saw the child in her lifetime, she would forget them in the blink of an eye.
The Doctor had promised her that he would save their remarkable child. But that had been half a lie. This River was still in Stormcage. She still had Utah and the Pandorica before her, she was still so young. But the Doctor, he had already said goodbye to all the Ponds he knew, and he wasn’t ready to lose another one. But he had no idea of how to protect his own child. He could find no corner of the universe to stow her away in. That was a fact he could not manage to tell River, because it might break all their hearts.
"Okay River, one last push." He called out, stroking his wife's hand, trying to cover the metallic band from River sight. It would start counting down soon. The Colonel had told her all those months ago "You will have twenty four hours to return willingly, or else you may not like what happens next."
River looked at the Doctor, he would remember this moment and she never would. She trusted him so much. He would save her from all the monsters in the universe she knew that unconditionally. They still had so much more to see, so many more creatures to run away from. He was her Doctor, and she was the daughter of Amy and Rory Pond she would remember.
The beeping of the countdown device was covered by the cry of an infant as River fell back against the bed. The Doctor was wrapping the child in a blanket, looking down at his own daughters face. It had been a long while since he held his own child in his arms, and she was magnificent.
"We have a daughter." The Doctor whispered in shock as he sat down next to River, the small little girl crying in his arms.
River laughed as she looked at the child, "Yet another Pond woman to terrorize you." She said as she took the child from him, missing the angst which flashed upon his face. The little girl looked up into her eyes, and River knew that she just had to become something spectacular. "She'll be safe?"
"I've already worked out a bio-dampener, River she'll be fine. But she needs a name, a true name."
River smiled as she remembered a long ago moment. A name suggested to her back in the days when River never imagined it possible for her to become a mother. "Riley." She said running a finger across her daughters cheek.
He Doctor looked at her with surprise. "Why Riley."
River smirked "Because it’s the real name of one of your most favorite historical figures."
The Doctor placed a hand on his daughter. She wasn't his first child, he doubted she would be the last, but she was just as special. Part human, mostly Time Lord. "Riley Donna Song." He said choking on the words.
"Why Donna, as her middle name?" River asked
"Have I ever told you about Donna Noble?" The Doctor began, as Riley wrapped her small hand around his fingers. "She was one of my best friends and we had so many adventures together." He paused as small wave of emotion taking over him. "She was feistily and brave, and so important. But in the end she had to forget all those times with me. One day you'll meet her, try to remember that she forgot. Try to remember what you'll forget. Because you can River, I know you can."
The little family sat together for a long while listening to the sounds of the TARDIS before they made their way into the control room. They didn’t speak; they just looked down at the little girl in awe. They were both so old and so alone in the world. They were both the most impossible of beings, and yet in this stolen time machine they have managed to find a home in the blackness of space.
The TARDIS herself looked down upon the new child fondly. She already knew what the girl would become, of the mark she would leave upon the universe. And her silly little parents knew nothing of what they held in their hands, of the history they had created. That magnificent machine would protect her children at all costs. Even when the mad man running about inside of her failed to do so.
"All right, we have twenty two hours." The Doctor called out as he looked at the monitor. "Let's see we could go to the beaches of Telamorlaphin, or the hills of Gamma Echo Ho? Or how about Gallifrey, we could take her there? River?" He stopped and looked at the woman who was still clutching at the child at her chest, not listening to a word he said. He knew exactly where he needed to take them.
****
"And this," the Doctor said as they rounded the lane "is Earth. In a way you come from here, you are part human."
"Sweetie." River chided as they looked about the small village square which was nearly empty of a weekday morning.
"Well she is." The Doctor added as she ran a finger under the infants chin. "And so are you." He added bopping her on the nose.
They sat down on the bench, looking at the village square. River smiled bitter sweetly, she remembered this place. She remembered driving that bus through the guard rails on North Second Street. She remembered swimming in the duck pond when she was nine. Of Brian Pond dragging her into his home every Christmas evening and making sure she had a stocking the next morning. But of all the days she remembered in Leadworth, she would never remember this one.
The Doctor remembered his times in the English village too. He remembered crashing into a little girls garden and changing her life completely. It still hurt, loosing Amy and Rory but he knew they would be happy, that they had out gown him. Amelia Pond had been a little girl searching for a beacon of hope in the world and found it in her imaginary friend. It took her a while, but she had grown up to be Amelia Williams a devoted wife and intelligent woman.
No ducks in the duck pond, no Ponds in Leadworth anymore. He wiped away a tear at the sad realization and turned to look at his wife. A clever smile was plastered across her face, and he knew immediately what she was insinuating.
"River" He hissed. He had thought of that plan, of course he had. River assumed it would be simple, simple but clever. The Doctor knew it was clever and nearly impossible.
"Oh sweetie we both know you can, and will." She said, shifting Riley in her arms once more. Yes, the Doctor knew he could use the TARDIS and do that, but this River was still too young, she only knew half the story.
She kissed him on the cheek having won the argument just like that, he flinched. She stood up and walked around the square, whispering in her child’s ear all the memories she had once had in this small town.
"Are you going to take her in the TARDIS one day, like you have everyone else?" River turned to ask him.
The Doctor ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Do you want me too?"
She thought for a moment, "Take her to see the best of the universe. Not the Daleks or Cybermen, the achievements of mankind."
"I'll try." The Doctor replied. They stayed like that for a long while, in the middle of the square looking at the town of Leadworth all around them, barely speaking as they both stewed their own memories. They never did go anywhere else.
****
The dawn broke from outside of her window as the golden sunlight filtered in. There was hardly a day when the sun shone on Stormcage, yet today was that day. River Song held her daughter closer to her chest, and held back a sob as the reckoning came. The TARDIS lay parked beyond the bars of her cell, yet even the guards did not make a comment on the blue box as the couple and their child sat in the cell.
They did not speak but he sat with her until the guards came to collect them. They did not question the presence of the Doctor. It was almost as if they had known that he was going to come. Riley did not cry out as they processed down a series of long twisting corridors. Heavy metal doors swung open slowly at the end of the corridors prompted them to stop momentarily as a long hall appeared before them.
There was a collection of strange medical instruments set up in the middle of the room, and time agents were already lining the walls in case River made a break for it, but of course she wouldn’t. They had only taken a handful of steps into the room, when a guard laid out a hand to stop the Doctor, he could go no further. River turned to face him, her face shining with tears, yet she looked resilient.
"Promise me." She said, as they guards began to place metal cuffs on her and drag her away "Promise me, you'll never let them lock her up."
He nodded in response, watching with tears in his own eyes as they were beginning to coax the child out of her arms. Of course he would watch out over her, she was his daughter after all.
River kissed her daughters forehead one last time, "I will always love you Riley." She sobbed as the time agents took her away.
River turned to face her fate, the strange medical instrument that was her scaffold. She marched on, her eyes closed, guided only by the pointing of her guards, chanting in desperation, Riley Donna Song.
She didn’t hesitate as they hooked her into the contraption. The child had already been taken away, but he would find her and take her to Amy and Rory. Riley would be safe, but River…
"Riley Donna Song, Riley Donna Song." Her chanting grew in intensity as the machines came to life. He watched as the electrical currents flowed towards her, and surged into her body "RILEY DON-" She convulsed once before falling limp.
The Doctor turned his back away from River, now she was truly the River he had always known. She would always be searching for something, and she would come so close to remembering in those last moments. He heard her stir, awakening. He wondered if this really was a punishment for her, or for him.
She would never remember Riley anymore. She would never remember the pain of birth, or the joy of holding her child. She would forget every single meeting which they had ever had in any of River’s regenerations or in the times to come. Not even her own name. But he would remember, so would Amy and Rory and Riley.
He needed to find her, to take her to the Ponds. He was almost at the door, when he heard River cry out in her playful voice "Sweetie." He tried his best to hold back a sob, but his shoulders still shuddered with emotion. A hatred deeper than any emotion he had ever felt towards a Dalek seemed to grow within in him. The worst day of River Songs life had been the day she was taken away from her parents. He would not allow for his daughter to have such a day.
She was looking at him with curiosity, mumbling and attempting to move towards him. He looked upon the placid eyes of the woman he loved and the universe seemed to collapse beneath his feet.
The doors shut behind him as he broke into a run back to his TARDIS.
****
He did not yell, or shout, or draw any weapons. He walked into the bar where the time agent was sitting mulling over a drink. He walked, the funny man in the tweed and bowtie, but his expression was anything but funny. The intensity of his eyes could burn a hole in the universe as he walked towards the man carelessly waving a glass around in his hand.
"Tell me where she is." He growled in a low monotone voice. The agent turned around, looking at the man who was outlined crudely by the lights of the bar. He knew who this man was, the man who needed no introduction. The Doctor stood his ground, looking at the time agent with furious eyes and a clenched jaw.
The agent thought only for a fraction of a second what implications his actions may have. He could escape and begin a new life in another time, he had that ability. "Convent of the Eloisians, June of 3481"
He turned around back to his drink finishing it in one swig. By the time he turned around to leave the Doctor had already vanished.
****
He held her tightly against her chest, the small infant crying against his shoulder. He rocked back and forth as he piloted the TARDIS with one hand, cooing at her all the while.
"I know Riley." He whispered as she let out a shriek at the sound of the TARDIS coming to wheezing halt. The landing was a difficult one, but the TARDIS would not dare and fail them now. "Your home now." He stepped out of his time machine and onto the busy street. It was about to be a big day for the history of the human race, and an even bigger day for two citizens of Manhattan.
"I know it’s not the best era for a brilliant woman to grow up in." He said as he double checked to make sure that she was wrapped tightly in the blankets. "But you have the birth of rock and roll to look forward too, and you can always build yourself a vortex manipulator."
He took one last look at his daughter. He would see her again, when she was old enough. But for now she would be safe. The Doctor laid a kiss upon Riley's head before slipping the letter into the folds of her blankets and resting her on the stoop.
How could he not resist.