TARDIS After Dark

- Chapter 1 -

CHAPTER ONE:

LOCATION: STORM CAGE FACILITY

YEAR: 5126

River took one last look at herself in the mirror, applied another thick coat of ruby red hallucinogenic lipstick, then smoothed down her dress and waited. The Doctor had come to her a few days earlier and sent her a message that he would pick her up later. She turned her gaze out of her small window she was granted in her cell.

It was lined with thick bars of energy spaced out wide enough to let light through but not large enough to physically fit through, her guards weren’t exactly going to make it easy for her. River Song had escaped from her cell in the storm cage facility more times than she could count, she treated it more as a home away from home than a cell. No matter how hard they tried, with their security scanners, tesla binding field and bans on travel via Trasmat or vortex manipulator, she always managed to escape, somehow.

As she moved closer, the light streaming in through the window falling across her face, there had been a noisy clatter as something infinitesimal ricocheted off the bars. Please tell me he's not doing what I think he is she thought to herself. One of the objects came hurtling through the window and struck her on the forehead. “OUCH!” River had grunted upon impact, rubbing her head. She reached down to retrieve the object: a small piece of moon rock.

“Sorry, was aiming for the window” a voice called out apologetically. Turning towards the source of the voice, River saw the Doctor’s head popping out from the TARDIS, as it was suspended in mid-air.

Another small chunk of moon rock had struck her. “I get the message!” she yelled at him.

“Good” he replied, “now jump River” he said, gesturing at the steep fifty foot drop that stood between her and the TARDIS.

She raised her eyebrow, “really?”

“Trust me River, I always catch you when you fall” the Doctor said.

And she did trust him, completely. He did always catch her when she fell, but still she worried one day he might not be there. She had seen it in his face when they’d first met. Well when she had first met him, he’d already met her by then. She could remember it like it was yesterday….

Neon lights flashed this way and that, accompanied by the thundering noise of the bass pouring out of the loud-speakers dotted around the nightclub. The dance floor was packed with bodies, swaying and gyrating to the music.

Normally River Song would have jumped at the chance to dance, but instead she was perched on a bar stool nursing her broken heart. The bartender gave her a sympathetic look and swapped an empty glass for a fresh one without a word. She sighed heavily, she had thought that coming here would take her mind off her recent break up with her Auton boyfriend, his swappable head that had made him seem more appealing at first had proved to be nothing more than a dirty cheat.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the feeling that she was being watched. She turned her head towards the dance floor and made eye-contact. He seemed awkward and oddly dressed for a nightclub and she half-smiled at the sight of his tweed jacket and bow-tie. Noticing that she had been checking him out, He made his way across the dance floor towards her. As he got closer she could see he had a slight school boyish charm about him complete with the sticky out ears and prominent chin. “Hey” he said smoothly, sliding on to a stool beside her, “Can I get you a drink?”

Strangely he seemed familiar, even though she swore that she had never seen him before in her life. “Sure” she said, she’d planned on getting drunk anyway, if she could do it with someone else’s pay check – even better.