DW Fic: Intermezzo
Title: Intermezzo
Author: nancybrown
Characters: River, Nine, Jenny
Rating: PG
Words: 700
Summary: He can't meet her yet.
AN: Sequel to Partners. Written for spoiler_song's Guns N' Curls Ficathon for myconstant's prompt: River/Nine, I was a heavy heart to carry
***
In this throng, it's easy to lose her way, easier still to lose the person she's here with. One moment, Jenny is beside her, haggling over the price of a slightly-used energy replenishment unit, the next, River is alone amidst too many unfamiliar faces in a marketplace on a planet she can't pronounce the name of.
She's not worried, not much. She rather hopes Jenny doesn't happen to someone (unless they deserve it). At the worst, they'll meet back at the ship. At the very, very worst, they'll meet up again some other point in their timelines, she's almost certain.
Eyes closed, she listens for Jenny's voice, instead picks up sharp barks and grunts, loud calls, and quiet dealings. The smells are of oiled parts and rich, cooking meats that make her mouth water. She doesn't even see the man until she bumps into him, and her eyes fly open again.
"Pardon me," she says in the local language. The custom on this planet is for politeness, she remembers as fast as she can. Two systems over, she'd be expected to shout an angry, "Out of my way!" As a stranger to these worlds, the directness is easier to parse than whatever subterfuge is hidden behind bows and obsequiousness, but she does like the elegant bow the other is now obliged to make, and his chirpy, "The mistake was all mine."
He's human. No. Her mouth curls up instinctively, and then droops again. This is well before her time, well before her Doctor. This one is in black, mourning colours for the lives he's so recently destroyed. She aches for the raw pain she can read, now that she knows, arcing under his skin like electrical jolts, contorting his face into a mad grin.
"Hello," she says. "Sorry. I lost my," she can't stop the word before it pops out, "companion." She covers the slip with more words. "I turned around and she was gone. Silly me."
He's already taking her arm, and she needs to run, needs to get away from him before he imprints, before he knows. "Funny enough, the same thing happened to me. And now I feel like I'm about to meet an old friend." He's scanning the crowd, sharp eyes much less merry than the rest of him.
Old friend? Her heart races, because how can he know? He doesn't. He's a Time Lord. He's sensing Jenny.
"I'm the Doctor, by the way. And you are?"
So easy, how he lets his name slip. He's faking friendliness. She wants to tell him, and she can't. "Melody." Stopping the name short at "Mel" will not help in his forgetting her later. "If you'll excuse me."
"Maybe we can help each other. What's your friend look like?"
She's your clone. You can't meet her, either. "Tall, bald and blue. Yours?"
"Oh, I've got two of them running around. She's about this tall," he holds his hand around the level of his neck, "and she'll be making friends with whatever's the most dangerous thing in the vicinity. He's this tall," the hand moves up, "and is mostly likely being chased by someone's furious husband or wife or both."
River laughs without thinking, without being able to help it. "I'll help you look. You go this way, I'll listen for the screams over that way. Meet you in the middle?"
"It's a deal, Melody," and he splits off from her again. She pretends to go, then watches him until he is lost in the crowd. The Doctor, but not her Doctor, not yet.
She wants to follow him. She wants to meet his companions, the one who exists in this universe only in legends now and the one she knows she'll meet again much, much later in his life. Instead she waits until even her imagination can no longer see the Doctor, and then she hurries back to the ship.
Jenny's already there, hair mussed and face dirty from installing the energy replenisher. "We have to leave," River says. "He's here, but he can't meet us yet."
Jenny tilts her head and nods in understanding, and in shared loss at being so close to their goal.
"Let's go."
***
The End
***
Author: nancybrown
Characters: River, Nine, Jenny
Rating: PG
Words: 700
Summary: He can't meet her yet.
AN: Sequel to Partners. Written for spoiler_song's Guns N' Curls Ficathon for myconstant's prompt: River/Nine, I was a heavy heart to carry
***
In this throng, it's easy to lose her way, easier still to lose the person she's here with. One moment, Jenny is beside her, haggling over the price of a slightly-used energy replenishment unit, the next, River is alone amidst too many unfamiliar faces in a marketplace on a planet she can't pronounce the name of.
She's not worried, not much. She rather hopes Jenny doesn't happen to someone (unless they deserve it). At the worst, they'll meet back at the ship. At the very, very worst, they'll meet up again some other point in their timelines, she's almost certain.
Eyes closed, she listens for Jenny's voice, instead picks up sharp barks and grunts, loud calls, and quiet dealings. The smells are of oiled parts and rich, cooking meats that make her mouth water. She doesn't even see the man until she bumps into him, and her eyes fly open again.
"Pardon me," she says in the local language. The custom on this planet is for politeness, she remembers as fast as she can. Two systems over, she'd be expected to shout an angry, "Out of my way!" As a stranger to these worlds, the directness is easier to parse than whatever subterfuge is hidden behind bows and obsequiousness, but she does like the elegant bow the other is now obliged to make, and his chirpy, "The mistake was all mine."
He's human. No. Her mouth curls up instinctively, and then droops again. This is well before her time, well before her Doctor. This one is in black, mourning colours for the lives he's so recently destroyed. She aches for the raw pain she can read, now that she knows, arcing under his skin like electrical jolts, contorting his face into a mad grin.
"Hello," she says. "Sorry. I lost my," she can't stop the word before it pops out, "companion." She covers the slip with more words. "I turned around and she was gone. Silly me."
He's already taking her arm, and she needs to run, needs to get away from him before he imprints, before he knows. "Funny enough, the same thing happened to me. And now I feel like I'm about to meet an old friend." He's scanning the crowd, sharp eyes much less merry than the rest of him.
Old friend? Her heart races, because how can he know? He doesn't. He's a Time Lord. He's sensing Jenny.
"I'm the Doctor, by the way. And you are?"
So easy, how he lets his name slip. He's faking friendliness. She wants to tell him, and she can't. "Melody." Stopping the name short at "Mel" will not help in his forgetting her later. "If you'll excuse me."
"Maybe we can help each other. What's your friend look like?"
She's your clone. You can't meet her, either. "Tall, bald and blue. Yours?"
"Oh, I've got two of them running around. She's about this tall," he holds his hand around the level of his neck, "and she'll be making friends with whatever's the most dangerous thing in the vicinity. He's this tall," the hand moves up, "and is mostly likely being chased by someone's furious husband or wife or both."
River laughs without thinking, without being able to help it. "I'll help you look. You go this way, I'll listen for the screams over that way. Meet you in the middle?"
"It's a deal, Melody," and he splits off from her again. She pretends to go, then watches him until he is lost in the crowd. The Doctor, but not her Doctor, not yet.
She wants to follow him. She wants to meet his companions, the one who exists in this universe only in legends now and the one she knows she'll meet again much, much later in his life. Instead she waits until even her imagination can no longer see the Doctor, and then she hurries back to the ship.
Jenny's already there, hair mussed and face dirty from installing the energy replenisher. "We have to leave," River says. "He's here, but he can't meet us yet."
Jenny tilts her head and nods in understanding, and in shared loss at being so close to their goal.
"Let's go."
***
The End
***