The Doctor crawled stealthily behind the bushes, his floppy hair falling in his face, his bum stuck in the air. The aliens hadn't noticed him yet, and if he could just get to the other side of their campsite, he could retrieve his sonic screwdriver and his wife.

His wife, unfortunately, was unconscious. She'd had his screwdriver, she'd danced backwards out of the Tardis, teasing him with it, when she'd been jumped and thumped on the head. He'd slammed the door and immediately moved the Tardis, including a few minutes back in time, so he could see what happened.

The Tardis was hidden in a stand of trees not far away, for once, the chameleon circuit was working, making the Tardis look like a tree to blend in with all the others. She always did love River best.

The locals had apparently been unable to decide whether River was a goddess or a demon. (Something they'd have had no doubt of if she'd been awake.) He grinned to himself. He really shouldn't like violence, but there was just something about watching his wife kick ass...

The local tribesmen were large, with pale yellow skin that shaded down to various shades of brown at hands and feet. By comparison, River's golden skin tone was not that unusual.

His own pale pinkness would stand out much more.

He shuffled forward and stopped with a grunt. He carefully disentangled his bowtie from a root branch. He popped his head up and looked around. The tribesmen were all seating in a circle around their fire, roasting a piglike creature they'd been hunting when they came across River. One of the tribesmen tested the meat by pulling off a quill and tasting the blob of meat still attached to the end.

They were all watching River, who was tied, sitting, to a pole at the side of the camp. Some looked on in awe, some in speculation, most in suspicion.

She was going to have an aching head when she woke up.

He had to save them from her.

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