The Penny Drops!

Part 2

"So, what exactly are we doing here?" Rita asked the Doctor as they walked out the TARDIS. "Friend of mine called. Needs some help. Hopefully, she hasn't insulted or shot anyone yet. No idea what she needs help with, she just said to hurry up." The Doctor replied, looking around.

"So, what year is this?" Rita asked him, looking around. "5147."

"Why does she want us in a bar?" She wondered aloud. "Hopefully not to pay for her drinks. Come on." The Doctor grabbed her hand and pulled her to the counter. "So, how do we find her?"

He smiled down at her. "Just listen for loud noises or gunshots." She sighed. That narrowed it down. There were a lot of loud noises in a bar. Then, suddenly, loud cheers came from the other side. "Found her."

Rita followed him to the other side quickly. "One more! One more! One more!" The small crowd chanted. She looked around until she found who they were doing it for- a mature woman with curly blond hair that was up in a bun.

The woman raised the last glass and drank it down. What was going on? She turned to ask the Doctor, but he was gone.

Great. Now she was alone in a bar. A loud screech from what sounded like a microphone pierced everyone's ears in place of the loud music. "Hello everyone! If River Song would just make her way to the counter and stop drinking, I would be ever so grateful." The Doctor's voice rang out loudly.

The curly haired woman stood up. "Sorry, boys. Got to go." She walked, well, stumbled over to the counter in her heels. Rita followed suit, interested in what would happen. The woman sat down in a chair. Rita walked up to her. "River Song?" River turned her head towards her. "What is it, dear?"

"Melody Pond, what exactly did you think you were doing?!" The Doctor's voice came from behind her, angry. She rolled her eyes. "I got drunk. That's what."

The Doctor walked over to her. "Why? How? How could you possibly get drunk? Good grief, were you shooting whiskey all day? Your blood makes it extremely difficult, you know." He scolded her, pacing around the chair. "I don't know. Some new drink. They said it would make anyone pass out within the first few seconds, and there was some man who said he could last longer than me. He didn't, and then people just started betting on how much more I could take. Who was I to refuse them?"

He sighed. "You're young, aren't you? If I had to guess, you haven't even gotten your doctorate yet. Still in college, am I right?"

"Maybe so. I'm eighty now. Then again, everyone's so young to you." Rita squinted and looked the woman over. They must have some amazing plastic surgery in the 52nd century. "River, your parents would go crazy if they learned I let you get drunk!"

River shrugged. "Mum would ask what bar I went to. Dad, well, yes. He would go crazy."

The Doctor nervously ran a hand through his hair. "Are you alright? Nobody's messed with you or anything?" River shook her head. "I'm fine. I can't really walk, and I won't be able to remember this conversation tomorrow morning, but I'm fine."

"Ok, we're getting you to bed. Rita, help me get her up." He reached down and slipped a hand around her waist, helping her up. "Oh, Doctor, so forward. Isn't this taking advantage?" RIver purred, looking up at him. Rita shot her a weird look.

The Doctor just rolled his eyes. "Exactly the same as you will be. Rita, please help me." Rita nodded and put a hand on her back to balance her. River tried to walk on her own, but the heels weren't making it easy.

"Get her into the TARDIS." The Doctor directed her, and they helped her across the room and into the TARDIS. "Alright, help me get her into our room. She'll pass out any second."

"What do you mean, 'our room'? Where's that?"

"Just... help me bring her where I'm going, alright?" The Doctor replied, turning into another corridor. "Ok."

They walked/fell down a few more hallways when the Doctor stopped. "In here." He led River into the room. "Wow." Rita said after they had deposited her on the bed. The room was amazing, with TARDIS blue walls and a view of stars for the ceiling. There was a painting on the wall that looked suspiciously like Vincent Van Goph, and a set of dressers on the other side of the room. One was obviously the Doctor's, with a couple of bowties and a tweed jacket on it. The other was, she was guessing, River's. There was lipstick and a pair of heels on that one.

"This is your room?" Rita asked in wonder. The Doctor didn't answer. He was busy taking off River's heels and pins out of her hair. River had finally passed out.

"Go get me some pain killers. She'll need them when she wakes up." He told her, taking another clip out. Rita nodded and went out the door.

The Doctor gently pulled her clothes off after she went. He didn't want his wife (well, maybe not just yet) to be sleeping in an uncomfortable dress. He changed her underwear, then pulled one of her nighties on her motionless figure.

He chuckled to himself as he took off her earrings. They were actually bombs. Only River would have something like that. Rita knocked on the door from the outside. It was shut. "Come in."

She entered with a glass of water and a bottle of tylenol. "Here it is." She walked over to the nightstand and sat it down. "You changed her clothes." She said, surprised when she saw the pile of clothing on the floor, especiallly with the knickers on top. "Yes." He unpinned a necklace from her neck. "Go into that bathroom over there, look under the sink, and get me some of those make-up remover cloths." He said, slipping a large bracelet off of River's arm.

"Ok." Rita did as asked, and handed some to him. "Thanks." He gently wiped River's face, removing anything she had on her face. "What's that?" Rita asked, noticing a small pile of weapons next to the clothes on the floor. "River's guns." He said absent mindedly.

"How did she fit that many weapons on her?" She asked, slightly amazed. He looked over to her. "I'm not telling you that."

Rita's eyes widened when she got it. The Doctor continued to take the make up off her. "So, who is she? Are you two....?" "What? Oh, yes, we are." He placed the used cloth on the nighstand.

"Oh."

He ran his fingers through her hair, attempting to tame it. "Good." He said, stepping back and admiring his work. He put a kiss on her forehead. "I'm going to stay in here with her. You can go to sleep, if you like. Technically, it has been several hours since you had some shut eye."

Rita nodded and went out of the room. Their room. Funny, she had never thought the Doctor had a room. He was so full of energy, it just seemed like he never stopped. But he did have a place just to be him. And her.

She had never seen the Doctor look at anyone like he did at River. It was so... protective. And loving. She would never think in a million years that he would look at a woman like that after she saw him with River today. It was so soft. So perfect.

Back in their room, the Doctor climbed into bed beside her and held her close to him. She kept him on his toes, that was for sure. He sighed into her hair.

"Why was I so stupid as to fall in love?" He asked her quietly. Unbeknownst to him, she could hear him. She didn't say anything, though. Sometimes, you don't have to.