Chapter Text
‘Can I trust you, River Song?’ he asked, that twinkle of youth still sparkling in his eye.
‘If you like,’ River smiled playfully, ‘but where’s the fun in that?’ She could feel the sensation of teleportation beam encircling her, pulling her away from her Doctor so she kept her eyes on him until the very last moment. He was so young, his hair a little floppier and his tone a little less familiar; he hardly knew who she was at all.
This was the first time Amy had met her, without a single clue as to who she was. The purpose of this mission for her had always been to do what she could to earn a pardon from prison, with the high probability of meeting the Doctor on the way simply an added bonus. But this time, it had been harder than it had before.
River had been forced to watch the man she loved slipping away from her for some time, though this was younger than she had ever seen him. It was a gentle reminder that everything had an expiration date, and no matter how much she tried to run away from it the day was coming when she would have to face a man who didn’t know her at all. A shiver ran down her spine, like ice water dripping down her back. It was the mere thought of this which kept her awake at night, which darkened every good memory of her husband; and it was closing in on her.
She hardly realised as the prison ship materialised around her. River found herself in a small cell, grey in every sense of the word and with nothing but a bolted door to stare at. What a lovely welcome back, she thought bitterly and started to pace the short length of the room– she never had been good at waiting. She wasted a little time getting out of her handcuffs, but they weren’t even a very challenging pair and soon she was back pacing again.
After a few minutes, River guessed that they wouldn’t miss her for a moment or two and pulled the vortex manipulator out from her back pocket. It was just something she had to do. Strapping the device on her wrist and punching in the co-ordinates, River noted the exact time to return to so that she wasn’t missed. If all went to plan no-one would ever even know that she was gone, though that was rarely the case. She was the sort of prisoner who could never go unnoticed.
The night she arrived on was in no way special or different from any other, and that was how she wanted it. Having seen her mother so young, before she even knew that she had a daughter, River needed just a few minutes with Amy and her father on a truly unremarkable night to wipe the slate clean. She tried not to let things like that bother her; after all it was the consequence of a time traveller’s life, but she would be lying if she said that it didn’t from time to time.
River appeared in the garden, not exactly where she had been aiming for but quite close considering her untrustworthy method of transport. Amy was sitting there with a bottle of wine for the both of them, watching the skies as meteors fell like fallen angels. She was sad, that much was apparent, and when River worked out why she realised that it wasn’t going to be the straightforward evening she had hoped for. Still, it was nice to give someone good news once in a while.
In a moment they were hugging, and River felt a warmth spread through her as Amy’s face brightened like the light of the meteors flecking the night sky.
‘Hey?’ They broke apart and River saw her father standing in the doorway, looking more than a little confused.
‘He’s not dead, he’s not dead!’ Amy cried, pulling her husband into an embrace.
‘Are you sure, River? Are you really, properly sure?’ She smiled at him.
‘Of course I’m sure, I’m his wife!’ She never tired of saying that. The words always made her hearts skip a beat, and it was the one thing in life she could hold on to when everything else seemed to fall apart.
‘Yes! And I'm his... mother-in-law,’ Amy realised, horror dawning on her face.
They laughed and drank until the first rays of sunlight began to peak above the hedges, and River’s face fell.
‘Oh no is it morning already?’ she realised, jumping to her feet and trying to remember what time she had left.
‘Do you have to go?’ Amy asked. ‘It feels like I haven’t seen you in ages and I don’t know when I’ll see you again.’
‘I was supposed to be on the prison ship, waiting to be taken back to Stormcage,’ she explained, ‘if they find out that I left…well I will be in trouble, put it that way.’
‘But you escape all the time,’ Rory pointed out, ‘surely once more won’t matter?’
‘It does if you’re trying to get pardoned.’
River kissed both of her parents on the cheek and uttered quick goodbyes before typing the correct numbers into the vortex manipulator and bracing herself against the turbulent winds of the time vortex.
When she opened her eyes, River was back in the stifling grey cell. For a moment, she assumed that she had got away with it and started to breathe a sigh of relief. She was wrong.
She felt the heat of their breath on her neck before the force of a boot on the back of her legs caused her to fall clumsily to the floor, like a new born deer struggling to walk. It caught her by surprise and she landed heavily on her right arm sending a jolt of pain up to her shoulder. Ignoring it, River managed to steady herself and get onto all fours before another kick caught her right in the stomach, taking the wind out of her as she crumpled back to the floor.