I don't own Doctor Who...

River smashed against the floor with a bang. Grating pressed into her arms and legs, digging into her skin. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. Her TARDIS had a glass floor. Bright lights. A Doctor who spun around in a professor's jacket and god-awful bow tie, as well as the hat of the week. She peeled herself off of the ground with an effort. She managed a look around before she let her head thud on the metal flooring again.

The desktop theme. Coral.

Worse than hers, but better than the gothic or the white circles that he'd had up forever. But regardless, it meant that it was wrong. Completely. Totally. Her vortex manipulator had locked onto the wrong TARDIS. Or rather, right TARDIS, wrong time stream.

River stood up, rising slowly. She gripped her diary a little tighter in one hand, smoothing out her shirt with the other. What was this? A glimpse into her future?

His past?

A man peered at her from around the console. A broken man. His face creased in anger and pain. Grief shook his hands, his mouth. River opened her mouth in shock. Her fingers flew through the pages to the back. She looked up, and down again. Back at the Doctor. The wrong Doctor.

The clothes, almost Victorian and formal, although burnt and torn, matched that of the picture where she'd scribbled 'eight'. Her head swung back up and down. With less hair and different face. 'Nine'. Oh god. That meant…

"What the hell are you doing here?"

That meant it had just happened.

"Oh, Doctor. I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry." River snapped the diary shut as soon as his eyes traveled down to the pages. "I'm not supposed to be here."

"Who are you?" The demand left his lips in a growl. It stung like an accusation.

She stepped forward toward him. Her hand went out, reaching to comfort him. He stepped back in return like he was flinching. And that absolutely killed her. "You don't know me yet," she replied in a whisper. It was all she could manage.

"Hell if I ever do," he snarled. Then his hands gripped the console with sudden weakness as if he might collapse. His voice changed and his eyes bored right into River's. "They're all dead. All of them." He looked as though he might weep. His voice broke an octave. "Why?"

She tilted her head in sympathy. She couldn't be there. Not only because it was changing both of their timelines, but because he was so young. And so raw.

His large white sleeves swung as his hand pulled down the lever. When he glanced back up, the panic in his face was evident. "I have to go back," he croaked. "Have to save them. I have to—I need to—" The hum of the TARDIS picked up speed, whirring.

"Don't you dare." River pushed back up the lever and reversed what the Doctor was doing as he circled the console. "It'll kill you. You can't go back. You can't ever go back. It's time-locked now, you need to stop!"

Her voice echoed with the last word as she grabbed his hand right above the lever again. His eyes met hers in confusion. The Doctor looked down at his hand, his new hand.

"I don't even know who you are." Melancholy eyes. Drawn face. A Northern accent. That was new.

River smiled with sadness in her eyes. "Spoilers."

"You know who I am. You know how to fly the TARDIS."

"Yes."

Unbearable agony and hope flooded his features. He paused. A long moment. River waited. And then the trembling question. "So are you…?"

"No, I'm not. Sorry, sweetie."

"No." His shoulders collapsed. "I suppose you wouldn't be." The Doctor leaned against the console and let his head droop.

River stood back and walked around the TARDIS. She stared down at the vortex manipulator and frowned, knowing she should leave. But not like this. "I like what you've done with the place," she said. "Not quite as nice as what you do in the future, but it'll work."

"What future?" he muttered.

"Oh don't be like that," River scolded. "The future's going to be fantastic."

"Fantastic?" The Doctor looked up, raising an eyebrow. "Of all the words?"

"Yes, fantastic. Now let's get you out of those awful clothes." River grabbed his arm but he shirked her grip.

"I like these clothes. I'm not changing." He crossed his arms.

"They look like you robbed… a hospital or something." She settled down on his eye level. "You need to let go." The Doctor refused to meet her eyes. His jaw clenched. River groaned and sat down against a coral beam. "I forget how impossible you are!" They both sunk into painful silence. River allowed her eyes to flicker to the Doctor's face once or twice. He looked cracked, holding his arms, holding all of his pieces together. Someone had ripped out his soul and burned it. She could tell, just watching him.

River had never seen him like this. She still wished that could be true. He was usually so good at hiding his pain, swallowing all he bit off. She rubbed her neck, weaving her fingers through her curls. Her Doctor would be telling her off for interfering, especially in his own timeline. That made her laugh. The sound felt out of place, hollow, in the silence. The Doctor gazed at her, dead eyes. River bit her lip sheepishly. It was decided, then. Timelines be damned. The Doctor needed her help. And whether he was her Doctor or not, she was going to help him. She wrapped her arm around the coral beam and pulled herself up.

"Alright, clean yourself up."

The Doctor only stared at her. She pursed her lips and put her hands on her hips. "Okay then, here's the choice: you can get up and find yourself some new clothes or I can pick them out for you. Goodness knows you won't be wearing a bow tie."

"Who are you?" He turned his head to watch River search for the wardrobe.

"River."

"Last name?"

She opened the door the wardrobe with an exclamation. "Well if you don't have one, why should I? Anyway, spoilers!"

"You keep on saying that."

River smiled over her shoulder and re-emerged from the giant closet. "What do you say? How about a nice jumper?"

"I want a jacket." It came out as a mumble, but River smiled to herself. He was involved now.

"There's a nice leather one here," she replied, pulling the black coat from the hanger and taking it over to him. "Bit 1940's, but what can you do?"

"Fantastic," the Doctor said sarcastically. He rolled his eyes, but they lit up, just a little. And he accepted the coat and jumper. "So now what?"

River winked. "We're going to go save some lives."