It wasn't very often that Danni went into her old room. Even before Trenzalore, before she had a home in a proper - if not slightly makeshift - house, she only ever went to the bedroom when she had a picture to add to the wall. It was a fantastic place to remember people, of places and adventures that they had together, but her life with Eleven had always been so fast, she never had too much time or want to dwell on the past.
But now, back in her pyjamas and wearing his purple jacket, she slowly opened the door, taking a step inside and closing it quietly behind her. The lights were already on, illuminating the wall of photos and magnets that she had collected over the years. Her previous body had been obsessed with magnets, although she really had lost that this time around. Maybe she should start collecting them again…
She pulled down a picture of Rose, Jack and Nine, smiling softly at the trio. As the one taking the picture, Danni was rarely in them, but she didn't need to remember herself. Jack and Rose had the faces of someone who was posing for a photo and, while happy to do so, the smiles were forced. Nine, however, had the biggest grin on his face. They'd just been to some interactive museum and he had won the grand prize. Even then, he'd just been a giant kid.
She honestly had no idea why she was doing this to herself. It was just torture, plain and simple, and yet she still made her way slowly over each picture, trying to remember all the places they had been, and all the people they had met. The next one she tugged down was one of Donna, Ten and herself. Donna was looking at the pair, the biggest smirk on her face. The Doctor was blushing because her red-headed self was kissing him on the cheek. That must have been a really young Donna-Ten, where had that been taken?
Some of them she really couldn't remember, like the one she plucked down on her and Martha having what appeared to be afternoon tea, but it was nice to see the evidence that she'd had quite an amazing life so far. There was a picture of the three children she had met while on holiday with Ten, who were being bullied for being slimy. They'd spend a few days at a beach resort, if she remembered correctly, although she could no longer remember their names.
She had never expected to live this long, and not having had a lot to her name, her pictures and magnets were incredibly precious to her. Red-headed Danni had taken a lot of comfort in the memories because it would be the only thing she was going to leave behind. Now that wasn't the case, but maybe she should be adding to them more.
She was looking at each of photos, focusing on Nine and Ten, even though that wasn't the reason that she was in the room in the first place. It had been a little while since they'd been to the end of the universe with Orson, but Danni still hadn't been able to shake off how the Doctor had treated her. Telling her to do as she was told was unacceptable, but it was the anger in his eyes that had really shaken her up. Eleven had only ever been truly angry at her once, and he would have never talked to her like that.
She missed him so much that most of the time she couldn't even think about it. She allowed herself to get distracted by little things, because the fact that her husband had died was all she could focus on otherwise. She was his Danni-Girl, and he was her Theta. She missed Sunday morning cup of teas, and arguing over the tidying. She missed the way he would do something completely wrong, but because it worked out he'd pretend that was the way he was going to do it all along. She missed the way her hand fit in his, she missed the way he could make her laugh.
Losing both Nine and Ten had been hard. They were all different men and it had been tougher than she had ever thought it would be to say goodbye, but at least she still had him. The Doctor, Eleven, her Theta, to remind her that they were still there. That, underneath the floppy brown hair and purple jacket that she pulled tighter around her, that he was still the Doctor. He'd shared memories and fantasies about the other two men, moments with her and moments where he had wished she was there. He made sure that, while she lived in the here and now, she never felt like she had lost the men he had once been.
Twelve, though, apparently didn't want to talk about Eleven at all. Even beyond his hateful comment in the capsule where they had found Orson, he was always changing the subject whenever Eleven came up. He'd even hung up the jacket she was wearing now out of the way so it wasn't on show in the bedroom, and he'd only slept in there maybe once since he'd regenerated. She'd found him in his armchair more than once. She was sure he was living off these catnaps, maybe she should move out of their bedroom again. Would that make him more comfortable?
She finally let her eyes fall on one of Eleven, one with Amy and herself when she was a matching redhead. She let out a little laugh; he'd managed to make his way through the family, hadn't he? Snogged the Grandmother, fake married the mother, then finally had married the youngest. She found it harder to think of Amy as her grandmother than she did thinking about being River's daughter these days. River wasn't her mother, but she struggled to pull up her parents in her memory. She didn't have any photos of them, she hadn't seen them since she was 22, of course it was going to be hard. She missed them. She missed everyone.
She tugged the photo off the wall. Neither of them could have looked happier, could they? She was on his back, and he didn't look like he'd had much of a choice. But he was laughing, and so was she, while Amy was in mid-eye roll. Rory must have been behind the camera. She looked up at the wall – did she have one of the four of them? Ah, yes, there was one. She pulled that one down as well. If only it had Jack and River in as well, the family would have been complete.
She didn't have any family photos, that was a shame.
She was now acquiring a small pile of photos she didn't want to let go, little holes in her collage where the wall underneath shone through. Her most favourite picture of her and Eleven still sat on the wall in their bedroom, but there was another she loved almost as much. One that Clara had taken after they had been bowling together. She hadn't even noticed the way he was looking at her until she'd printed the photo from the console. She doubted he even meant to look down at her at the point, because she was grinning like a fool as she posed. He looked like he was in awe of her, and it made her feel so warm inside, so loved.
She sniffed, blinking back tears as she spotted it. One in a mass of a mixture of mundane and marvellous moments in her life. She reached out and took it down, holding onto it tightly as she dared as she brought it back down to the rest. God, he was simply stunning, wasn't he?
No, he had been stunning. He'd been so beautiful. Not that he still wasn't, but once she'd allowed herself to miss him, she just couldn't stop. The tears ran fast as she turned, leaning against the wall and pulling a few more photos down with her as she slid to the floor.
She'd missed Nine dying, something his younger self had always been very quick to point out. Ten's death had hurt so much, but she saw him again and again so it had never been final until she had bigger things to worry about. She'd been so scared when she regenerated of the fact that she had regenerated, then so happy that she hadn't really lost him after all, that her mourning of him had been easy. Eleven had died in front of her, had taken off his bow tie, had called her his Danni-Girl…
Her sobbing hurt her chest, but she couldn't tear her eyes off him. He had… he had always been her Doctor. Before she'd come to this universe, or back to this universe, or however you wanted to say it, her favourite Doctor had been Eleven. He was the one she'd grown up with, then the one she'd fallen in love with, who had loved her back. She'd spent all of her life with him. Her whole being missed him, and she hated herself for it, because he was still here. The Doctor was still with her, he was somewhere in the TARDIS. And yet she missed him so much she didn't actually know what to do with it.
She smiled again at the picture of him, through her breaking hearts and her uncertain future. She didn't know if she was going to be allowed on the TARDIS much longer, or of the Doctor was going to dump her somewhere and tell her not to come looking. He'd obviously been very happy to not have her by his side. And, she had to admit, meeting a new Doctor she had absolutely no prior knowledge of had been scary, especially with no time to prepare. One minute they were happy, the next it had been three hundred years and he was dying.
And that was something Twelve had never done. He'd never robbed those years from her. He'd never told her that he loved her then left her behind. He was very vocal about what his intentions were, she wasn't under any illusions when it came to him. She was just to do as she was told and go back into the TARDIS.
She held the photos to her chest, which heaved under the stress of her never-ending crying. She just wanted her husband.
"Let's waste time, chasing cars, around our heads." She sang softly. It was the song they'd danced to at their wedding. She could still remember that like it was yesterday, "I need your grace, to remind me, of my own."
Her breath caught in her throat, cutting off her words with an undignified groan, "Please." She whispered, begging both the man she lost and the man that was slipping through her fingers, "Theta, please."
~0~0~0~
She wasn't sure how long she spent cuddling up to pictures, to images that offered her no comfort in return, but eventually the tears calmed and she was able to pick herself off the floor. She carefully put the pictures back on the wall, starting with Eleven and working her way backwards until she had said goodbye to Nine and left out the door.
Saying she was sad was an understatement, but the time on the floor had given her the time she'd needed to think. She had lost her husband, that was true, but it was also true that he was here and she had to try her hardest to make it work. If he rejected her, then she would leave him. If that was what made him happy, she would break but she would allow him that. But while there was still a chance they could find themselves again and be the couple they always had been, then she would fight for them. They just had to learn how to fit together again. That's what happened after regeneration, she knew that from her own.
So her first port of call was the bedroom. She needed to hang the jacket back up in the wardrobe, then change into something nice. Then she'd hunt Theta down and try and convince him to go somewhere nice and new. They could spend the day together, where she'd focus on him and only him in the hopes that she might get a similar response. She wasn't trying to get him to fall in love with her again, after all. Just remember that he was.
She was already shrugging off Eleven's jacket as she headed into the bedroom. She paused, brows furrowed. Something wasn't right in their bedroom, she could feel it. The room looked the same though, same coloured walls, same bedspread, same mirror at the foot of the bed. Same picture of her and Th…
Her eyes widened in horror at the picture than now hung above their bed. There was no sign of her and Theta in front of the giant mushroom that they had put up there after their trip to Not Wonderland. Instead there was an, admittedly very pretty, scenic picture, with trees and grass but neither of them in sight.
"Theta…" She whimpered. No, she can't… She took a shaky breath to calm herself. She was over emotional, that was all. She just needed to take a moment and remember that the TARDIS was known to misplace things on occasion – after all, she was infinite in size, she couldn't be expected to keep track of everything. All she had to do was go tell the Doctor and he could get it back for her.
While the thought did relax her somewhat, Danni still turned on her heel and darted out down the hallway in her pyjamas and tear-stained until she found him in his favourite armchair.
"What's wrong?" He asked her, seeing how flustered she looked as she rushed into the console room wearing that ridiculous purple jacket.
She relaxed slightly at the sight of him, trying to act like she knew how silly she had been at panicking, "The-The picture's gone from the bedroom." She commented, "You know, the one of you and me in Not Wonderland…"
"Yes, isn't the replacement much better?" He replied, "Lovely forest from Guine 2. Thought it would be more calming."
She stared at him, then glanced back down the hallway towards the bedroom. He knew that… she turned back to him, "That's deliberate?" She asked, "You got rid of the picture of us for some trees?" She couldn't keep the incredulous out of her voice.
A slight sneer appeared on his face, "It was just a picture of you and that idiot." He dismissed, with a wave of his hand, like even the thought of the other man he had been wasn't worth his attention, "You've got plenty to cry over in your old room."
"Cry…" She repeated faintly before her eyes narrowed, "Were you watching me?"
He stood up, "I wasn't watching you." He replied, "I just happened to see you on the monitor." Which wasn't a total lie. He'd been looking for her on the console in the hopes of taking her to Guine 2, because he was sure he hadn't taken her before. There was a lot of tall trees where you could see for miles from the top, which benefited not only from a repeat of Defoid, but he could watch her take in the sights, see the way the new world lit her up. In those moments she was absolutely stunning, and he was starting to crave it once again.
However, the monitor had flickered on and shown her on the floor of her old bedroom, wrapped up in that infuriating jacket, curled up and crying. It was obvious that it was his past self that was making her cry, just like always. She'd been sobbing when he regenerated, although he couldn't remember much after that.
He'd been angry at himself for making her feel like that, but more than that he'd been jealous. It had been weeks, months since he regenerated, and yet she was still grieving over the man he used to be. And, while part of him liked that she loved every part of him, there was a giant part of him that wanted her to want him. To not care about the others, to only think of him. To love this him with both her hearts. He didn't want anyone else in there, not Clara, not Eleven, even her parents were a bit of a stretch. To know she was still wasting time on the idiot that had hurt her, had killed her, who had done nothing to deserve her had his blood boiling. That should be him.
So he decided to jump-start her healing. He'd gone into the bedroom with the print of the place he'd intended to take her under his arm, slightly annoyed he couldn't get rid of the jacket at the same time. Remove every trace of Eleven from their bedroom, maybe even redecorate completely, when he could ask her what she'd like instead.
"Why did you remove it?" She asked, "I love that picture, you know I do!"
"We can take a new one." He replied, "We don't need that moron in our bedroom."
"That moron was my husband!" She shouted, surprising him with her anger, "How dare you take that picture away without even asking me!"
Puzzled by her attitude to his actions – he didn't think she'd be thanking him, but the shouting seemed a bit much - he started to walk down the stairs to be on the same level as her, "I am your husband now, Danielle. We do not need him looming over while we sleep like he has a say on anything."
"He's you!" She shouted in reply, "Put it back up right now!"
"I'm not having that picture in my bedroom." The Doctor replied with an air of finality, like he was done talking about it. Danni wasn't, though.
"Your bedroom?" She repeated slowly, "You've not slept in it since you regenerated. Every night I go in there on my own, and every morning I wake up on my own. If anything it's my room." She stormed over to him, "Put the picture back right now." She reiterated firmly.
He crossed his arms, "No." He replied calmly.
"No?" She repeated quietly, his dismissal just fuelling her fury.
"You used to be quicker than this, Danielle." He retorted, "I don't want him in my bedroom. He was an idiot, and I don't need to reminder of the man you refuse to get over. The quicker you forget about him, the better."
"Forget about him?" She repeated, bewildered for a moment. Did he actually mean that? That he wanted her to just forget about Eleven? Why the hell would he want that?
Normally when the Doctor behaved strangely, she'd question it. He had always been jealous of his previous selves, was that what this was? Stupid jealousy over Eleven? Completely unfounded jealousy over a man that didn't even exist anymore? If she'd been in her normal frame of mind, she would have teased him mercilessly over it, much like she used to do with Eleven about Ten.
But she wasn't. Her hearts hurt, her grief made all the rawer by the decision he'd made without even consulting her. She'd tried to ignore the little swipes, questioning him on some of the bigger ones until she understood the meaning behind them. When he had left her behind to go inside the Dalek, it wasn't because he didn't want her there, it was because he was scared for her safety. He'd call her slow because he knew she could do better; she could see that. But this wasn't her. This was an attack on the man she loved.
"I'm never going to forget him!" She shrieked, "I'm never going to move past the fact that my husband died! I loved him with both of my hearts, that doesn't just go away!"
"It did with everyone else!" He retorted, "With the men that came before him! You found it very easy to move on from them!"
Her anger fell away at his hurtful words and she could feel her eyes filling up, the lump in her throat painful at the reminder, "Do you really think I'm that heartless?" She asked quietly and he rolled his eyes.
"Where did you get from?" He snapped, "You're being emotional. When you calm down, you'll see it's for the best."
"You don't get to decide that!" She replied, "Where is my picture, Doctor?"
"In storage. Where it is going to stay." He told her.
She shook her head, turning, "I'm going to get it. When you stop being such a dick, come find me!" Without waiting for a reply, she stormed out into the hallway, a woman with a purpose.
"Danielle!" He shouted after her, "Danielle, wait a minute!" But it didn't stop her, and he knew better than to go after her. They used to rarely fight, but she would need time to calm down before he followed.
That had not gone to plan at all. He had known she liked the photograph of the pair, but he didn't realise it would have caused such an irrational response from her. The photo, the jacket, none of them were going to bring back the man she still wished was here. He'd died, but he'd regenerated. He was still here! Time had passed, how come she still couldn't see him?!
He sat down on the stairs, leg bouncing with anxious, frustrated energy. She'd promised she'd love with despite the face, even as he had aged and she'd stayed her beautiful, youthful self. But, and he was loath to think it, but maybe this was proof that the face did matter. That unless he was a pretty young man, she didn't love him. Could it really be that superficial?
He held out his hands in front of him, looking at the aged and hardened skin. On Trenzalore, after that idiot had left her behind, he used to hold out his hands in front of him to reaffirm his decision in his head. She deserved that youthfulness that her body and mind held. He had used the selfish feeling that came with wanting her against himself to ensure that he didn't go running into the TARDIS and fetch her back from Clara's. Was he being selfish now? He knew he didn't have the patience with other people like he used to, even though he struggled with working out where he'd found it in the first place.
But he was selfish. He always had been, especially when it came to her. He had never deserved her forgiveness, but he took it the moment she had given it. He'd horde her from the universe if it meant he didn't lose her. He couldn't let her go without a fight, he had to win her back from the man that still held her hearts. He needed to, he was nothing without her. She saw the beauty in everything around her, she'd even found some in him once, regardless of his face. He just had to convince her to find it again, he just wasn't sure it was still there.
~0~0~0~
It took Danni three storage cupboards to find the oversized photograph. And she knew that was with the TARDIS helping, because every door she opened was to a cupboard, which meant that the Doctor was sabotaging her attempts to find it.
Bastard!
A bunch of boxes almost fell on her head as she tried to pull the large canvas out from behind some shelving, and she yelped in surprise as she ducked out of the way, holding the picture close. This was his fault. All his stupid, hurtful, mean fault.
She couldn't even work out what he was trying to achieve! Why would he want her to get over him? Surely that was the whole point in loving him, any him? That she wouldn't get over losing him, even as she accepted the new body, the new voice, the new mannerisms. And she had. He still made her hearts flutter, the purr of his voice… oh, that could do things to her that Eleven would have struggled to pull off.
And he still infuriated her so much! How was she supposed to know her moping around, missing her husband was getting to him unless he told her? He was the one who'd kept them separated, making sure she couldn't see into his head. She was just following his lead, but it meant that she could only know what he allowed her to know.
And who the fuck was he to be angry at her mourning her husband?! No one could tell her how to feel, how much she could grieve and when! If she wanted to spent the next five hundred years missing the last five hundred, then she could!
The picture was larger than she remembered, but then against she rarely compared the size of it to herself so maybe it wasn't. When she lifted it off the floor to carry it to the bedroom she couldn't see over the top, so she had to look around the side to see where she was going.
If that was his bedroom, then fine. She could be petty too. She'd put the picture up, in her room. She slammed her hand on the button to open the door, the grin on her face reflecting the stubborn victory she was getting. This was her room. The TARDIS had made it for her for when she wasn't sharing a room with the pig headed Time Lord. It looked just like her room back in the other universe had looked almost six hundred years ago, when she'd jumped back here.
She placed it on the bed before climbing on, picking it up again and holding it unsteadily in front of it wall to see if it would fit above the headboard. It would, and it would look amazing, so she climbed back down again.
"In the drawer, sweetie?" She called to the TARDIS before opening the bedside table. Inside sat a bunch on hangers, nails and a hammer, and something she wouldn't have expected. She picked up the blue bowtie slowly, feeling like someone was clenching her hearts. His bow tie. Eleven's bow tie. She sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at the little piece of fabric.
Images of him taking the bow tie off flashed in her head. At night, when he was getting into bed with her, that last time in the console room just before he regenerated. He'd gone back and changed into his favourite suit before he'd died, but the bow tie had been centuries old even before he'd dropped her off at Clara's. She could see herself straightening it out whilst stood in front of him, helping him get ready for the parties that the citizens of Christmas would throw them after particularly hard fights. See him looming over her, skin slightly shining with sweat, that hungry grin on his face as he took her wrists, looping the tie around them…
She sniffed, clutching the tie tightly as she held it to her chest. That had been his pride and joy. He'd never felt himself without wearing any bow tie, and that one always had a grin on his face and hope in his eyes. And there it was, in a drawer, like it had never mattered to him at all.
It was just so hard. She knew that he had been fighting to find himself after so long as one man. It was always going to be hard, she went through a similar thing when she first regenerated after thinking all her life that she was just some ordinary human. It took time to find your feet, to work out what was 'you' and what was just part of that particular body's personality. Tastes changed, the way you saw the universe altered. She didn't envy him at all. But she was the one who was left behind. She didn't know what was happening in his head, what conclusions he was coming to. She just had to react to him, so that's what she was doing. Until he let her in, all she could do was react.
She turned to the bedside table, tying the tie around the handle of the drawer so she wouldn't lose it. What she wouldn't give to straighten that tie one last time.
She looked at the picture, her drive to hang it up the photo to spite him having drained away. She just wanted her husband. She didn't care about his face, she just wanted the man who would hold her hand, who would give her a kiss and make her feel safe. Who would baffle her with long facts then take the time to explain it to her. Who would pretend to like her cooking, forcing it down when she had been terrible and proclaiming how fantastic it had been when she'd been mediocre. Who held her at night and made her see stars. She missed Eleven desperately, but she missed the Doctor infinitely more.
She reached out, stroking the Photo-Doctor's face as it laid the wrong way around on the bed. Not only had her husband died that night, but it felt like her marriage had gone with it.
"I love you." She whispered, her voice thick, "Please tell me you love me too." But the picture didn't stay a word, just continued to look in adoration at the Danni he held.
~0~0~0~
The Doctor had tried to find her, but the TARDIS once again was siding with his wife. Usually he rather liked the fact that the TARDIS would be there for Danielle, even over himself in certain situations. It meant that she always had a safe place, a home, someone protecting her even if he wasn't there.
When she was using that to hide from him, that was when he was annoyed that the time machine that he stole was not on his side. He just wanted to make it up to her, apologise for whatever had made her so angry, then move on. Everyone was conspiring against him.
He'd eventually settled for pacing in the console room, back and forth, checking the monitor to see if he was being allowed any sort of location information on Danielle whilst also trying to decide the best place to take her to take her mind off her anger and the idiot that, once again, had upset her. He wasn't even here! He could only be grateful that this body would be better than that.
He was rather surprised when Danielle came into the console room of her own accord, now dressed with her hair in some sort of wavy style he'd seen her occasionally do, "Danielle…" He started and she shot him an almost shy smile.
"I just wanted to apologise." She told him, shuffling nervously on the spot, "I might have overreacted, I just really like that picture and you should have asked."
He nodded, although it did seem like he was in the wrong rather than her, he took it, "I will next time." He replied, "You appear to have dressed to go out." He commented, turning back to the console, "Did you somehow overhear my plan to go somewhere?"
Danni flushed slightly at being caught, tucking her hair behind her ear, "No, actually, I had a little bit of a request." She explained as she approached him, "I'd like to go somewhere, if that's okay."
"Of course." He said, wondering why she looked so worried about asking him, "Where?" He asked, getting ready to fly away.
"Stormcage." She said, startling him into stopping his action.
"Stormcage?" He repeated, "You want to see River?" She'd barely spoke of her mother over their time on Trenzalore, other than to comment how long it had been since they'd seen the archaeologist. She'd been a lot more vocal on missing Jack, and Amy, and Clara, and everyone else but River. And she'd not mentioned her once since they were reunited.
"I was looking over my photo wall, and I barely have any of her." She explained, "It made me realise just how long it's been since I've seen her and, well..." She shrugged, "She gave me up, but she was still my friend. I should, you know, visit her or something."
He eyed her for a moment. She didn't look particularly comfortable about going to see River, fidgeting slightly with the edges of her sleeves, but if that was her choice, "Any particular time?" He asked her and she shook her head.
"Not really." She replied, skipping over to his side, "You know best, Spaceman." The use of his nickname had him smirking slightly.
"Let me see what I can do, my Pet." He purred, pulling her up against him before sending them into flight.
~0~0~0~
When they landed River wasn't in her cell, although that wasn't exactly uncommon for the Pond child. Danni walked over to the bed as the Doctor looked over the cell with a slight sneer on his face. He still wasn't River's biggest fan, but then again he knew that she wasn't particularly fond of him. Or anyone that took Danni's attention off her. It just made her giving Danielle up when she was a baby even more baffling.
He watched Danni crouch to the ground, hand snaking underneath the cot-like bed. She pulled out a small box, quickly taking off the lid, "Her manipulator is still under here." She told him, "The diary too. She can't have gone far."
"We'll just have to try another time." He declared but she shook her head, pushing the box back under the bed.
"I'll just wait." She told him, "I'll call you to pick me up."
He frowned, "She could be hours." He pointed out.
"Look at the clock." She replied, motioning to the metal box that made up her bedside table, "It's almost morning. You know the rules. We take her at night and she's here during the day. She won't be long. Plus; you know she'd love to see me waiting for her." That he couldn't deny. River would adore the idea of her Danni-Girl waiting for her to return so they could spend some more time together.
But he didn't exactly find River's enjoyment a factor to just wait around for her, so Danni pulled out her final card. With a little smirk on her face she tried to hide from him, "You can always wait with me." She told him, "Maybe the three of us could go somewhere nice…"
That was definitely not acceptable, and so his reluctance to leave her behind fell away to his disinclination to spend any time with the daughter of his former companions, "If you do not call, I will be back in three hours." He told her and she grinned, leaning up and placing a kiss on his cheek.
"Thanks, sweetie!" She exclaimed and, even though it was nice to see her smiling, he shot her a look.
"Three hours, Danielle." He repeated purposefully.
"Yes, I heard you." She replied, getting comfy on the bed, taking her shoes off beforehand, of course, "Just don't get lost on your way back."
"I told you, I can fly the TARDIS much better than he could." He snapped, turning and walking out of the cell, "Won't be long, my Pet."
Danni watched the TARDIS dematerialise, without an 'I love you', or a kiss, or anything to suggest she was anything more than a standard companion. Maybe that was how he saw her now. Not as his wife, but just a friend.
She shook her head, reaching over to the bedside table and picking up the book that had been discarded there, "'Summer Falls'" She read off the front cover, smiling softly at the name of the author, "Reading the mother's writing? Really?" She murmured before opening it to the front page. She'd never actually ever read this book.
~0~0~0~
River was always sad to see the TARDIS disappear off into the vortex, leaving her in the grey walls of her home. Not that she missed the Doctor, but knowing that her time with her Danni was up always put her in a bit of a melancholy mood. They didn't visit every night, but she knew it wouldn't be long until she saw the duo again. Maybe next time it might not be the red-headed Danni, though. She loved every version, but it was always nice to spend time with a Danni who knew who she was. Just another way she was connected to the woman who had saved her as a child, one more than that overbearing Time Lord she chose to spend her time with.
"Just me." She told the guards, pressing the button on the intercom before the alarms started sounding, "Back from my little trip, don't forget breakfast." She sauntered over to her cell, freezing at the sight that greeted her. Danni, on her bed, book in hand, sleeping softly on her pillow. She'd been waiting for her. Danni had been waiting for her.
River couldn't hide her smile even if she had tried. She loved nothing in the universe more than the woman currently snoozing on her bed, so she took a moment to appreciate it. Her daughter, her best friend. The reason she was in prison, and the reason she'd take the punishment all over again.
She walked over, giving the blonde a shake, "You know, my mother won't appreciate you falling asleep to her book." She teased lightly as Danni struggled to wake up from the unexpected nap. Her glasses had fallen to the end of her nose, so she pushed them up as she tried to get her foggy head working.
"Needs more zombies." She murmured, "Tell her that the next time you see her."
"I'm sure that will go down well." River retorted, sitting down next to her as Danni sat up, chucking her legs over the edge of the bed.
"Where were you?" She asked the archaeologist.
"Oh, you and that husband of yours took me to a gala on Kiju." She explained, excited about reminding Danni about a memory they could share. When you met in the wrong order, it was nice when you synced up, "Remember? You were a red-head and so young. You still were jealous that I was going to marry him." She pulled a face, "Honestly, where you go the notion I could fancy him is beyond me. He's a moron."
River wasn't the first person to say that to her today, and it made Danni's face fall slightly. She didn't want her Theta remembered like that. He was so much more than the childish persona he had put out to hide his pain.
"What is it?" River asked, instantly sensing her change in attitude, "What's wrong?"
"He regenerated." Danni explained softly, "And I don't think… I'm not sure he wants me anymore."
"Oh, don't be ridiculous." River dismissed, "He pines over you like a lovesick puppy. Quite frankly, it's embarrassing, but it's not going to change."
Danni shrugged, "You haven't seen him, River." She replied, "He keeps doing stuff without even thinking of me. He told me I had to 'do as I was told' to be able to stay with him. I…" She sighed, "It's different now."
River wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "Well then, that's his loss." She declared, "You don't need him, Danni, you never did."
"I know." Danni replied, "But I want him. I want to fight for my marriage, I want him to love me…" She shook her head, "That's not why I'm here. Well, it kinda is, but I'm not here to spill my bleeding hearts to you."
"Then why are you here?" River asked, a frown on her face. She'd thought that Danni was just here for a visit, but obviously she needed something more from her mum.
"I want you to take me to him." Danni replied, "Take me to Eleven. I want you to take me to see my husband."