Secrets that Must Never Be Told: The Name of the Doctor (2/3)

Also known as  OTP FEELS!

You're always here to me. And I always listen. And I can always see you.*

Post-Library River.
From the first moment I saw this confirmed, I had a wild, crazy hope that he'd saved her from the Library. Or she'd saved herself, or they'd worked something out together--somehow, some way, she'd come back from that empty world. I even thought that might be what Clara was attempting to do with the column of light: find a way to bring River back for the Doctor.
The first part I saw was a brief clip from the sleep seance.  It was so good to see her again, to finally see how she'd react to Clara (well, how Clara reacted to her. I knew River didn't want the Doctor to be alone.) But Clara's genuine confusion--"he never mentioned you were a woman." It made sense; he doesn't like to talk about his past. He may have mentioned her once or twice, but to tell the whole story would be more painful than he could bear. And then these four lines

Clara: So, So you're a friend of his then.
River: A little more than a friend, a long time ago. 
Vastra: He still never contacted you?
River: He doesn't like endings.

Which all but confirms Darillium before The Snowmen. So he wasn't just mourning his Ponds up there--he had lost her too. I didn't think that would happen; if nothing else, I assumed Moffat wouldn't miss the chance to troll us with feels. And how easily River shrugs off his silence. How long has it been for her? Years? Centuries? Thankful, we get the amusing-ness of River slapping everyone else awake before things can get too complicated between the Mrs. and the girlfriend.

She's been dead for a very long time. 

Again, how long has it been for him? If he can poke around for 200 years before his own death, how long might he have been sitting on that cloud? This scene is a hundred times worse when he confesses that he could see her all along, but even before that....her grave.  She didn't have one at the Library, so I knew something was up when it showed up in the trailer, but....and his line

They'd never bury my wife out here.

He calls her wife. How can anyone still claim they're not married? There's just so many painful lines in this episode.

I died saving him. In return he saved me to a database in the biggest library in the universe. Left me like a book on a shelf. Didn't even say goodbye. He doesn't like endings.

And I'm so glad she was there to open the TARDIS. Even in death, Idris is watching over her thief and her child. Though it was amusing that the door opened just as the Doctor said "please..."  A moment of ??? for everyone.  The worst part, though, was after Clara had sacrificed herself.  The Doctor, displaying his normal papa-wolf-before-reason habits, is about to jump in after her.
 River is just about to slap some sense into him when he catches her hand. He confesses that he's always seen her, always heard what she was saying. He had to listen when River explained how she died, had to walk through her ghost to touch her grave, had to pretend he didn't see her all the time. Once again, how long has he known? Logically, Ockham's razor suggests it's only been for this adventure, but my headcanon is that she's been haunting the TARDIS since the Library.

River: Then why didn't you speak to me? The Doctor: Because I thought it would hurt too much.River: I believe I could have coped.The Doctor: No. I thought it would hurt me. And I was right

When he said that, I knew he was thinking over his own feelings, not hers.  He doesn't set out to hurt her, he'd never do that, but he's selfish to the core, and has suffered so many losses that he can't do anything else that would cause him pain, even if it would comfort someone else.  And this can't be the end, it can't been. I want to see her learn his name, and see them explore the Bone Meadows or meet Jim the Fish. I want River to jump out of more things and have him catch her, or maybe the other way around. I want River to get out of the Library and surprise him with a squirmy, wiggly baby who is quite sure that bowties aren't cool.
I refuse to believe this is their last adventure. There must be more.

*my graphic edit, featuring a quote from Neil Gaiman's American Gods.

The Only Mystery Worth Solving: Why Clara's Arc Didn't Work (but River Song's did)

a/n: written before Name of the Doctor, so I'll complete some of these thoughts in my episode review.

Since Clara’s initial appearance in Asylum of the Daleks,   it was clear that something was going to be different about this new companion.  Her reappearance in The Snowmen confirmed this suspicion, sparking jokes about Soufflé Girl giving Rory a run for his money in the most-deaths category. This isn’t the first time Moffat’s introduced a character with a mysterious past; his most famous example is River Song. But despite her divisive nature, I feel her plot arc succeed in in a way Clara’s has not. 

First of all, River Song’s role as a reoccurring character allowed writers to space out her episodes,   instead of continuously having to incorporate a mysterious background.  Between River’s introduction in season four and the reveal of her identity in season six were 30 episodes*, of which she appeared in nine (all but one were two-parters).  In comparison, Clara’s introduction and reveal have been compressed into one season, appearing (in some form) in all but four episodes.   While the compressed nature of this arc could be justified by Clara’s role as a companion, it creates a cramped feeling. While River’s arc stretched longer, it was interspersed with other plots, such as the cracks in time, and didn’t become the key arc until season six.

Secondly, each story of River’s arc adds something new to the viewer’s understanding of her.  At the Library, we are as befuddled as the Doctor, knowing only that she’s met him before.  The episode ends with the first significant clue: she knows his name.  

In Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone, viewers learn slightly more. She can fly the TARDIS, having had lessons from “the very best. Shame (the Doctor) was busy that day.”  More ominously, she is in prison for killing “a good man. The best man she’d ever known.”   Though the second part isn’t part of her initial identity, it remains in play to the end of season six.

The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang are more plot-driven, though we do see her leave messages for the Doctor (with the implication she does so regularly) and make a Dalek beg for mercy.  The latter heightens our curiosity---what could she have done to inspire that level of dread? The nature of her connection to the Doctor is teased as well.

Are you married, River?Yes.Hang on, did you think I was asking you to marry me or asking if you were married?Yes.But was that yes or yes?Yes.

Her reappearance in the season six premiere focused more on her relationships with the Ponds and the Doctor,  though viewers learn that the first time the Doctor met her, as a child, he already knew “everything about her.”   Only in AGMGTW do we learn her true identity, tying together the main themes of season six: Amy’s pregnancy, the regenerating child, and River’s background.

While it is still possible that Name of the Doctor will pull off a similar connection, the lack of visible clues leaves me concerned that Clara’s identity, whatever it is, will seem random, rather than purposeful.  Despite the plot twist of Oswin’s true form in Asylum and the confirmation of a connection in The Snowmen, very little has been revealed since then. In fact, all indications, from her childhood background to the conclusions of the empathic psychic, suggest that she’s a perfectly normal girl who just happens to have two duplicates with a similar interest in soufflés and identical tastes in last words.

*two-parters counted as two episodes

The Doctor and River in Four Quotes

One quote for each season of the Doctor and River’s relationship.

It’s not over for you. You’ll see me again. You and me. Time and space. You watch us run. 

River, “Forest of the Dead”

Obviously, I had to choose from Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, but I thought this quote fit the best because it points forward, to the adventures of seasons five and six.

Is River Song your wife? ‘Cause she’s someone from your future. And the way she talks to you, I’ve never seen anyone do that. She’s kind of like, you know,  ’Heel, boy.’ She’s Mrs. Doctor from the future, isn’t she? Is she going to be your wife  one day?

Amy Pond, “The Time of Angels”

This was the first episode I saw River in, and I think this quote summarizes season five (and even six to a certain extent)  when we’re still trying to work out who River is, and the Doctor doesn’t even know. She’s important to him, but we aren’t quite sure how yet.

The Doctor will find your daughter. And he will care for her, whatever it takes. And I know that,

River Song, “A Good Man Goes to War”

There were a lot of good quotes in this series, but I like this one because it shows how much the Doctor loves River, even when he doesn’t know who she really is.  Even in Let’s Kill Hitler, where she’s trying to kill him, his driving force is “River needs me.”

Just you wait till my husband comes home.  

River Song, “Angels Take Manhattan”

It just shows how secure they are in each other, that they make jokes about traffic and call each other “husband” and “wife.” I don’t care what anyone says, they consider themselves married. 

The Spaces Between my Fingers (are right where yours fit perfectly)

While waiting for the 2012 Christmas special, I slack my Whovian thirst by finishing the First Doctor's era (only "The Tenth Planet" left to go) and watching all of River's episodes in her chronological order. As far as I can tell, that means:

1. Snippets of GMGTW with baby Melody
2. Little-girl Melody from Impossible Astronaut and Day of Moon
3. Let’s Kill Hitler
4. Closing Time cameo
5. Wedding of River Song
6. GMGTW as grown-up—anything after here, really
7. Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon
8. Pandorica Opens/Big Bang
9. Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone
10. Tells Amy the Doctor’s still alive (Wedding of River Song)
11. Angels Take Manhattan
12. Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead

But I felt it was time to further explore Angels Take Manhattan,  particularly River and the Doctor's relationship in it. She is now "Professor Song," pardoned because there's now no evidence that the Doctor ever existed. Which means she's that much closer to the Library; his face when he heard those words...he knows she's very near the end.  

But that whole scene is so beautiful---so wonderfully played, from her reaction to the mob boss's prize to her deliciously snarky "Just you wait till my husband gets home."  She can ignore the Weeping Angel that caught her wrist and focus on finding her dad through a book she has yet to write. The heartbreaking elements start when he sees chapter titles eleven and twelve: "Death at Winter Quay" and "Amelia's Last Farewell." He starts pounding his face against the book, yelling, and she replies  "Doctor. Doctor, what is it? What's wrong? Tell me. Doctor. Doctor, what is it? Tell me. Okay. I know that face. Calm down! Calm down! Talk to me! Doctor!"

He storms off in a rage. Her wrist isn't the real issue--it's a miniature of the whole story, the weight of fixed points and fate...and if she can escape a detail, they might be able to leave unscatted.  And so his exuberant joy when she walks in, his squeals of "you just changed the future!"--they make so much more sense in context. And he grabs her hand, because now this is just another adventure, they'll be fine...

And she pulls away, shaking her hand. The camera zooms in, revealing an angry red line from pinky to wrist. The small whimper is the only hint we get of the pain--and given River's stoic nature in other episodes, any response means it must hurt like hell.  The scene cuts to Rory in Battery Park, so we don't get to see the Doctor's initial reaction. I'd imagine it's several levels of very seriously not good. But his words to her are so tender and quiet, both in tone and terms:

The Doctor: Why did you lie to me?
River: When one's in love with an ageless god who insists on the face of a twelve-year-old, one does one's best to hide the damage.
The Doctor: It must hurt. Come here.

He takes her wrist in his hands, carefully holding it. 

River: Yes. The wrist is pretty bad too.  

There's just so much pain at the moment, the threat of death and farewells, fixed points threatening to take his friends. And his wife's in pain. So he does the only thing he can do,  focusing on a minor detail... his hands begin to glow with regeneration energy.

River: No no. No, stop that! Stop that! Stop it! 

He ignores her protest, maintaining the glow until the lines on her wrist vanish. 

The Doctor: There you go. How's that? 
River: Well. Let's see shall we? {she slaps him} That was a stupid waste of regeneration energy! Nothing is gained by you being a sentimental idiot.
The Doctor: River!
River: No! You embarrass me! {she storms off}
The Doctor: River!
Amy watches the whole scene. The Doctor turns to her, with more than a little-she's-your-daughter in his expression. In the next scene, Amy and River are outside.

Amy: Okay, why did you lie?
River: Never let him see the damage. And never ever let him see you age. He doesn't like endings.

I love River, forever and always, one of my favorite companions,  one of my top ships, etc, but she is so bloody thick to say that. Yes, it's true. Yes, the Doctor has already lost so much. Yes, don't cause him pain, but ...you're his wife! Be strong for each, because you need someone to share those moments. Marriage is all about being vulnerable to each other. But no matter how much she's loved...no matter how much she loves him, she can't overcome that psychopathic tendency of emotions as weakness. 

She still feels she needs to be the strong one, the one who will never break down--is she still atoning for Berlin and Silencio? If you look at her behavior towards Amy-at the Byzantium, the Pandorica, Lake Silencio--she's trying to protect her, keep her safe, more like a mother than a daughter. Oh, River...you are forgiven, don't you remember that? You are forgiven. Always and completely forgiven. 

As for a waste of regeneration energy--you're a fine one to talk. Ten regenerations spent in moments, just trying to save her mortal enemy. Or are you the only one who can make sacrifices for the people you love? He was trying to help, River. He loves you, in his own awkward, gangly, son-of-a-giraffe way,  and one way of showing that is caring when you're hurting. The bit at the end where he  kisses her hand--that's what a mother does, everyone knows mom's kisses are magic.  But there's also the chivalric element, kissing the hand of one's lady-love to honor her. And it's not the last handkiss in this episode. 

The later scene in the graveyard also burns with River feels. Rory has already vanished, without even the chance to say goodbye, and Amy stands there, staring at the Angels. I could do a whole nother post on the Angel angel of this and how Eleven will probably react next time he encounters them, but she can't look away, literally can't, and has already made up her mind because she can't live without  Rory. 

"Melody."
--that one word tore my heart in half, because it's never Melody, even after Demons Runs. It's River, always River. But she's saying goodbye to her daughter, the only child she'll ever had, and just this once, it's "Melody."

Amy: You look after him. And you be a good girl and you look after him.

They can't even look each other in the eye, because the Angel's still there.   So Amy reaches her hand backwards, and River holds it and kisses it because this is goodbye forever.  It's even worse with a bit of thought. The Doctor totally breaks down, sobbing and holding his head in his hands, but the Angel must still be there. So River must have been staring at it the whole time, until they got back in the TARDIS, and because she "can't let him see the damage," she can't start crying.

The Doctor: River. They were your parents. Sorry. I didn't even think.
River: Doesn't matter.
The Doctor: Course it matters.

The causal tone in which she says it--oh, River. Break my heart, why don't you?  And then I thought of it in connection with this Tumblr post...don't let go River. Hold on to him, because he needs you.

An Illustrated Dream (w/aid from Google)

So we had gone out for the day and were on the way back to the TARDIS when we found a crowd outside the TARDIS. They couldn't move but otherwise looked normal. So we went into the museum and found tons of little kids running around an empty room.

But there was a Weeping Angels inside, sculptured of black metal or rock, maybe granite. It reclined on a rocky base, sitting like Adam in Michelangelo's ceiling. (almost exactly like this, actually)

There were small chains nearby, probably used to cordon off the statue, and I used them to chain the Angel as best I could. I set two of the elementary-aged kids to watch the sculpture nonetheless, but went off with some friends to search the rest of the building for Angels. "And beware the cherubs too!" I told them. My best friend and I went to the basement, equipped with two flashlights.

The place was massive--at least the size of a church, and had shelves and rows upon rows of statues, like some workshop or collector's studio. I saw another Angel, like the one upstairs, and asked my friend "Will you be alright if I go to get the others?" But then I saw people--a mother and two middle-school daughters, moving around the sculptures, and I knew they were Angels, in the sense that Amy might have become one in Flesh and Stone if the Doctor had not saved her. 

Something touched my hand, and I became an Angel.

My mouth was full of dust, and I coughed and coughed, trying to get rid of that dry taste. I screamed to the others, trying to warn them, make them run. But they touched me instead, and I and the other angels were disabled, like zombies by Nerf swords in HvZ.

The next thing I knew, I was human, sitting on a bench, with River hugging me tight and Eleven looking down. 

"Can I have a sonic screwdriver next time? Because it was not supposed to work like that, I know better."  My heart was going thumpity-thumpity-thump, as if I'd run a marathon, and I started babbling. "There's an Angel upstairs, I trained to chain it up but could someone just make sure it's taken care of?" 

And he looked down at me with such an odd expression, something like

.....

Someone else--a barrister or solicitor or lawyer or someone like that---was taking me to hear a will read.

We walked out past rows of columns, dark from heavy rain. "After Mother died--well, after he told me that she died

((

some 2 years afterwards.) 

"He would look at me like I was the only precious thing he had left in the world."

(yes, I was Eleven and River's daughter. It was so Mary Sue but so fun)

---------------------------

Then time had twisted again, and we were at a theatre in Wellington, New Zealand for the premier of The Fellowship of the Ring;  River, Eleven and I. But this was early days, very early, perhaps my first adventure with them.

Our seats were in the front row, with our jackets reserving them. Mine was of some sort of plaid--it was all very smart-looking, and I wish I could remember what I was wearing, because it looked so good on me. 

When we were climbing out later, River said to me "You seem to know him."

"Did you say you seem to know him, or that I seem to know him?" I asked. "In a dream, you can know a person better than your best friend, and when you finally meet--"

Farewell, Ponds--The Angels Take Manhattan---SPOILERS

There's a little girl waiting in a garden. She's going to wait a long while, so she's going to need a lot of hope. Go to her, tell her a story. Tell her that if she’s patient, the days are coming which she’ll never forget. Tell her she’ll go to sea and fight pirates, she’ll fall in love with a man who’ll wait two thousand years to keep her safe. Tell her she’ll give hope to the greatest painter who ever lived, and save a whale in outer space. Tell her 

this is the story of Amelia Pond, 

and this is how it ends.

Pardon the occasional sob of PONDS! in this review. Because it's not so much a review as an attempt to catgorize these squeezings and heaviness in my chest. Amy Pond was the first companion I ever saw--A Christmas Carol was the first episode I watched as broadcast. So this is the first time I saw a companion leave without having another episode to watch. More than that, the Doctor had a FAMILY. For the first time since leaving Susan in 22nd-century London, he has another Time Lord to take on adventures. He has a wife who will do anything for him. He has a wonderful couple who cares about about him and will take him to task when he steps out of line. People who will wait for him, even when he tries to shake them off. They're a family, Amy and Rory, River and the Doctor. Mum and dad, daughter and son-in-law. And that fact that he's his mum's imaginary friend just makes it more fun.

And the Angels are back--oye, are they ever back. I'm NEVER going to NYC now, no matter what they offer me. It was bad enough when Ten encountered the Daleks, but this time not everyone got out alive. Not that it was that bad to start out with. The Doctor and Ponds were hanging out in Central Park, having a picnic while Amy teased him about fancying someone in a book.  Who says you can't fancy fictional people? Not me, that's for sure. Then Rory pops off for a snack and ends up in the book.

Not literally--I think things would have ended up better for them if he had gotten stuck in fiction land. Instead, he ends up in 1938 and is met by River Song. The two of them are dragged off by a mob boss who throws Rory  to the cherubs--yes, Weeping Angels CAN be even creeper now--while River gets caught by the wrist. 

I'm a River/Doctor shipper--surprise, surprise-- and I just loved all their little interactions in this episode. Especially his reaction when he realizes that she had to break her wrist to get away from the angel. It's not just that she's hurt--it's what that means, it's one tiny strand threatening to tie him in a web of fixed points. She tried to hid it from him, but she can't, not really. So he fixes it, because he owes her so much. But she doesn't want it...

The Doctor: Why did you lie to me?River: When one's in love with an ageless god who insists on the face of a twelve-year-old, one does one's best to hide the damage.The Doctor: It must hurt. Come here.River: Yes. The wrist is pretty bad too. {The Doctor uses his energy to heal her} No no. No, stop that! Stop that! Stop it! The Doctor: There you go. How's that? River: Well. Let's see shall we? {she slaps him} That was a stupid waste of regeneration energy! Nothing is gained by you being a sentimental idiot.

Even though we never see it after Let's Kill Hitler, she still must have that pyscopathic training from Kovarian--a mistrust of feelings and wariness of compassion.

River: Never let him see the damage. And never ever let him see you age. He doesn't like endings.

Oh River--so old now, so very close to Darillium and the Library,  Because you're pardoned and a professor now, and he knows that that means. And yet you still don't trust him enough to be so vulnerable with him. I saw one Tumblr post suggesting that she plays the Doctor-role in their relationship, the one protecting him from the harsh truth. There's definately some truth in it. She's the one with the gun, the one who isn't afraid to do questionable things to protect him. 

That hotel---ewe, so very creepy. I knew there was going to to be an old Rory in it, I just knew that. And Rory's solution.

Amy: You think you'll just come back to life?
Rory: When don't  I?

And they jump together, because that's how much they love each other. I have to admit, the Angel should have caught them by then, but that would have broken the paradox too, because they would have been together, not just Rory on his own.

But then at the graveyard...a beautiful hope spot, and then Rory turns back to look--RORY, STUPIDFACE!  But that whole scene was terrible....and the worst part? I GUESSED IT!

The New York cemetery was ominously quiet for the middle of the afternoon. Amy pushed on ahead, leading River and the Doctor through the crumbling headstones. Near a marble wall, the Weeping Angel reached with outstretched arms, as if to embrace the mourners. "Don't look away. Don't look at its eyes, and don't look away," the Doctor warned River.
Amy rubbed the back of her hand across her face, but her cheeks remained dry. She paused for a moment, glancing down at a memorial by her foot. The name seared her vision like a camera flash. Then she looked over her shoulder at the Doctor, smiled, and kept walking.
"No, no, don't do this, please!" The Doctor ran forward, but River grabbed his arm.
"There's nothing we can do!" Tears dripped down her face. "This has already happened."
Amy closed her eyes. All it took was a blink, and she was gone.
"Amy, Amy! No." The Doctor ran forward, trying to pull her away. Instead, he tripped over the tombstone. "Amy…Amy."
"Doctor." River pointed at the writing. "You need to read this."
"Rory Williams, 1980-1969; yes, I know." He yanked away a clump of grass, revealing more words. "Amelia Pond, 1983-1971. Fish fingers and custard."

--Bait and Switch, by me 

Click the link and look at the date stamp if you don't believe me. I read a filming report of this scene and this what I thought would happen. That doesn't make me feel any better, believe me.  Amy choose to leave, she chooses Rory over everything else. And her last words to them:

Amy: Melody. You look after him. And you be a good girl and you look after him.The Doctor: You are creating fixed time. I will never be able to see you again. Amy: I'll be fine. I'll be with him.The Doctor: Amy. Please. Just come back into the TARDIS, Come along, Pond. Please.Amy: Raggedy Man, goodbye.

She calls River Melody! Her last words to the daughter she never got to raise. And the Doctor's last words to her are "Come along Pond. Please." River has to write the story of her parents' farewell to stabilize the loop and the Ponds fade away....fade away.

Yes, that concludes it. The Doctor's done at least one of this season backwards. Will he ever tell Brian what happened to his son and daughter-in-law? Or will Brian just water the plants forever? And how Amy begs him not to be alone...pleads, because she knows what happens when he travels alone too long. Oh, my hearts. I think Moffat has permantly killed one of them.

Flesh, Stone and River

Okay, so I haven't been shy about my feelings for River Song, and since I'm rewatching Flesh and Stone, I decided to blog some of my thoughts as I watched it. This two-parter is the first episode with River Song I saw, so it's special for me.

Random fact: First time I saw this, I thought River might be a Time Lord because she was called Doctor. Then cue season six, and

Doctor. The word for healer and wise man throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know, but if you carry on the way you are, what might that word come to mean?

So I was right, in a way. And now that we know the truth of Amy and River's relationship, I love their scenes even more than before. River is so motherly and caring towards her, when it is actually the other way around. I'm a sucker for hurt/comfort and woobies, so I just get little heart pangs seeing the Angel come for Amy and that moment where the Angels almost grab her makes me gasp in relief.

The Best of Me: River Song

"One minute she wants to marry you, and the next she wants to kill you."

"She's been brainwashed; it all makes sense to her. Plus, she is a women. "

-Amy and the Eleventh Doctor on River Song

River Song is one of the most controversial figures in revived Who. Part of that stems from her role as the Doctor's love interest and backlash from other shippers*. People also claim she's a Mary Sue, a term which has expanded so far that it has absolutely no meaning. But I'm not discussing Mary Sues or shipping on this post: It's about River Song.

First of all, a confession. I ship River/Doctor. Not just a little bit, but hard. That's not to say I think he hasn't been in love before, but I think that River's complexity and confidence make her an intriguing match and more of his equal.

Secondly, I find River intriguing because she meets the Doctor in the wrong order. The only other companion that happens too is Melanie Bush in the classic series, but one would expect it to happen more frequently. The contrast between where she is and where the Doctor--or for that, Amy and Rory are--provides emotional conflict that is gold for fanfic writers. Even little scenes--like the kiss in "Day of the Moon"--- are painful and sweet.

Also, River has a lot of traits that make her a foil for Eleven--likes to carry a gun, overtly flirtatious, serious demeanor. While I'd never like to see a female Doctor, River can fill that role to a certain extent.

*a shipper in a fandom is someone who romantically 'ships' two or more characters. It's like being a matchmaker for fictional people.

Fanfiction Recommendations

Set Links:

The site A Teaspoon and an Open Mind allows authors to put their stories in 'collections,' sets of multiple stories.

Lonewytch (My note: this author writes only Doctor/River, so it seemed the easiest way to post her stories. Some of them are smut, but those two are clearly labeled 'adult' and have content warnings)

madis hartte Her stories are primarily River/Doctor fics, including the amazing AU series Melody Williams.

Madman in a Box My Eleventh Doctor stories, collected in one place. (My note: It's technically an Eleventh Doctor collection, but with six of thirteen about River, it's the easiest way to post the link. Besides, 11 is my Doctor, and this author writes phenomenal stories.)

River in Pete's World A series of ficlets depicting River meeting TenII in Pete's World

River Saga Stories about River Song. "Chronological order" is an oxymoron with River, but I've done my best. They don't need to be read in this order, but they make sense in it. River as River or River as Melody; River when we know who she is and when we have no idea; River driving the Doctor crazy or being driven crazy herself: this is the life of River Song.

Theories of You and I Does she marry him or murder him? My stories exploring the life of River Song, golden-haired enigma. Spoilers.

Individual Stories

32 Minutes The Doctor's been poisoned and will be dead in 32 minutes. Where could he possibly go? River/Eleven. Partially inspired by the line- "He said no one could save him — but he must have known I could."

Aftermath The Stormcage guards know by now that they have as much chance of keeping Doctor Song locked up as they do of waking up to blue skies over the prison. That doesn't mean they don't try, but they've developed a coping mechanism, too.

Aixo era y no era Aixo era y no era: It was and it was not. Because he was Time, and she was Death, and they spun around and around and around. "On the matter of apologies, I have none."

Biographies "I love biographies." "Oh very you, always a death at the end." "You need a good death. Without death, there'd only be comedies!"

Birds are Leaving over Autumn's Ending "Victorian England," he says, through a haze of tears. "It was at a ball." Based on an abandoned prompt at SpoilerSong. River/Eleven, River asks the Doctor about the first time he met her in his timeline. He has to lie.

Book Smarts When John Smith takes a gander into the university library in Pete's World, who ever could he meet?

Born and Bred Jenny never thought anyone could understand what it's like to be born and bred as a weapon, but perhaps there is someone out there who does, so much closer than she thinks.

Born in Blood Mels would like to see her parents get married, but sometimes, things don't go according to plan.

The Case of the Dead Doctor Sherlock/Who crossover.

The Christmas Gift The Doctor has a very special gift for River. Set immediately following the 2011 Christmas Special, and a sequel to "Home".

Failing to Communicate The Doctor is dead, long live River Song. My note: Obviously an AU, but a drabblish one.

Forever, Ever More The sound echoed back and forth like a monstrous demon wail. It was horrible, horrendous, awful. So many words could be used to describe such an irritating sound! "Sweetie!" River cried. "You're humming again!"

A Good Shot In which there is an aborted revolution, an aborted murder, and an aborted kiss. Based on a prompt from the spoiler-song ficathon, Hell in Heels.

Half of Me There is still one, life-changing thing that she does not tell him, even on the eve of her death. *One-shot*

Hope Spoilers! The Doctor's feelings and thoughts during River's identity reveal in AGMGTW.

Kind of Magic Some days the Doctor thinks that Young River is even worse than Spoilers River

Like Sand through an Hourglass "'You watch us run,' she told him, and he's counting every step." Knowing exactly how it's going to end isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes, it just makes it easier to count your blessings. River/11, spoilers for 4x9 and 4x10.

Missing Pictures Some people call pictures a window to the soul; River searches for hers.

Momentum He aged, and she watched. (Set during TWoRS.)

Mosaic The Doctor is kidnapped and discovers the amazing truth about a certain someone. *Theory on River's identity, one-shot* My note: written before AGMGTW, this is the most original and best theory of River's identity I'd seen. It might make even River-haters reconsider.

Night Shift Being a guard isn't the most glamourous job in the world. If part of your duties includes watching over Cell 426, though, at least it's never boring. DISCLAIMER: No Time Streams were harmed in the writing of this fic. Probably. My note: some of them are rated higher then others, but she generally includes a warning.

Out of Place The first time Doctor River Song met Polly Plummer

Raising Cain Spoilers through series 6. Because a decade is a long time to do nothing but plot murder and exchange lectures. Mels's relationship with Amy and Rory and their relationship with each other and references to others as well.

Rewriting History One Death at a Time "The first time I met you, you died." Ten times. A Library fix-it, a little different

A River Runs through It River Song, meet River Tam. Two Rivers in one time and space. The universe may implode.

River Styx River Song was dead and very, very bored. Just what was she going to do about it? A dark Doctor fic (also starring Captain Jack Harkness and Doctors Nine and Ten).

Stitches in Time Happy New Year! Series of One-Shots for 11/River. Latest chapter: It's New Year's Eve. Somewhere.

Stories For The Strong Of Heart She became what the silence inspired: a killer, quick and quiet, slipping in and out of shadows. One-shot.

The Time Travelers' Wives The Doctor helps out a fellow time traveler, and River and Clare commiserate.

The TimeyWimey Games How River Song and the Doctor won the 73rd and 78th Hunger Games, respectively. River/1

What Child Is This The Doctor and River find themselves thrown together at Christmas and must make one of the hardest decisions either could imagine.

Where He Is Needed That's where the TARDIS takes him. And when a student of history gets hold of Spoilers she really shouldn't have, he really IS needed. Set after Let's Kill Hitler, spoilers for just about everything.

Where River Song Proves A Point to Sarah Jane So two women - one who's very quick to use a gun and one who doesn't like them meet. Here's what happens... My note: This one will probably show up again on my Sarah Jane lists, but it's really funny and contains two of my favorite characters.

to whisper in their presence It may be the wrong Melody Pond he's found, but it's exactly the right River Song. doctor/river, post-6x07.

You Always Knew The Doctor was the only one to ever manage to surprise her, but this was intangibly unthinkable. The Doctor in a papoose. With a baby. The night before her trial.

In Your Place there were a Thousand Other Faces The Doctor is dead. - AU for The Wedding of River Song